title: Maternal repeated oral exposure to microcystin-LR affects neurobehaviors in developing rats.
abstract: Microcystins are toxic peptides secreted by certain water blooms of toxic cyanobacteria. The most widely studied microcystin is microcystin-LR (MC-LR), which exhibits hepatotoxicity and neurotoxicity. However, limited information is available regarding the effects on offspring following maternal exposure. The present study was conducted to observe the effects of progestational exposure to MC-LR on postnatal development in rats. Female Sprague-Dawley rats (28 d old) were randomly divided into a control group and 3 treatment groups (1.0 µg MC-LR/kg body wt, 5.0 µg MC-LR/kg body wt, and 20.0 µg MC-LR/kg body wt), with 7 rats per group. The MC-LR was administered through gavage once every 48 h for 8 wk. Pure water was used as control. Each female rat was mated with an unexposed adult male rat. Motor development, behavioral development, and learning ability of pups were detected using surface righting reflex, negative geotaxis, and cliff avoidance tests on postnatal day 7. Open-field and Morris water maze tests were performed on postnatal day 28 and day 60. The levels of lipid peroxidation products and antioxidant indices in the rat hippocampus were also detected. Pups from the MC-LR-treated groups had significantly lower scores than controls in the cliff avoidance test (p < 0.05). Cognitive impairment, malondialdehyde level, and total superoxide dismutase activity significantly increased in MC-LR-exposed pups compared with controls (p < 0.05). Therefore, the present study reveals that maternal exposure to MC-LR has adverse effects on neurodevelopment in rat offspring.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: XiaoBo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jingjuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: Yunhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Yuepu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008124:Locomotion / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008387:Marine Toxins; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D052998:Microcystins / Q000633:toxicity*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D008387:Marine Toxins; D052998:Microcystins; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C057862:cyanoginosin LR
keywords: Cliff avoidance; Microcystin-LR; Morris water maze; Neurobehavior; Oxidative stress assay