Elsevier

Neurobiology of Aging

Volume 19, Issue 6, November–December 1998, Pages 545-552
Neurobiology of Aging

Original Articles
Changes in behavior and muscarinic receptor density after neonatal and adult exposure to bioallethrin

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0197-4580(98)00093-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Throughout life, mammals are exposed to environmental toxicants, some of which have acute effects on the nervous system. Early, low-dose exposure in combination with later re-exposure and possible interference with normal aging have been little studied. The present study revealed increased susceptibility in adult mice, exposed neonatally to a low dose of the insecticide bioallethrin, to renewed exposure to bioallethrin as adults. Ten-day-old Naval Medical Research Institute male mice received bioallethrin orally (0.7 mg per kg body weight per day for 7 days). When aged 5 months they were given the same dose of bioallethrin by gavage. Twenty-four hours after the last administration, a spontaneous motor activity test revealed significant aberrations in mice exposed both neonatally and as adults to bioallethrin. The density of muscarinic receptors was significantly increased. When aged 7 months, spontaneous behavioral disturbances and muscarinic receptor changes persisted and learning and memory deficits had developed. These results indicate that neonatal exposure to bioallethrin has the potential to increase susceptibility of the adult mouse to a new exposure at a dosage that does not have any effect in animals treated neonatally with vehicle.

Section snippets

Animals and chemicals

Pregnant Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) mice were obtained from B&K, Sollentuna, Sweden. Subsequently, each litter, adjusted within 48 h to 8–12 pups, was kept together with its respective dam in a plastic cage in a room at 22°C and a 12/12 h light/dark cycle. At the age of 4 weeks, pups were weaned and males were placed and raised in groups of four to seven in a room for male mice only. Animals were supplied with standardized pellet food and tap water ad libitum. Bioallethrin

Results

No clinical signs of toxic symptoms were observed in mice of the different treatment groups throughout the experimental period. Nor were there any significant differences in weight gain.

Animals treated with bioallethrin both as neonates and as adults had as their control group animals treated with bioallethrin as neonates and vehicle as adults. Animals treated with vehicle as neonates and with bioallethrin as adults had as their control group animals treated with vehicle both as neonates and as

Discussion

The present study revealed in adult mice exposed neonatally to bioallethrin an increased susceptibility to develop permanent changes in muscarinic acetylcholine receptor density and behavior when subsequently exposed as adults to the same agent. The group exposed both neonatally and as adults to bioallethrin showed modified spontaneous behavior accompanied by a changed swim maze performance. The density of muscarinic receptors was also significantly increased in this group.

The spontaneous motor

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Tessier, Rousell Uclaf, France, for the gift of bioallethrin and Anna Pettersson for excellent technical assistance. This work was financially supported by grants from the Swedish Environmental Protection Board, The Swedish Work Environmental Fund, and the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.

References (42)

Cited by (36)

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    However, a causal relation between pyrethroid exposure and ADHD-like symptoms has been suggested in animal experimental studies (Gillette and Bloomquist, 2003; Lazarini et al., 2001; Liu et al., 2011; Richardson et al., 2015). Second, the present study was conducted among preschool-age children (i.e., 4-year-old children) and, so, the results should be generalized with caution to other age groups (such as adults), as previous animal studies suggest that early brain development might be a vulnerable period to pyrethroid exposure with regards to neurobehavioral outcomes (Burns et al., 2013; Eriksson and Fredriksson, 1991; Sinha et al., 2006; Talts et al., 1998). Third, since the half-lives of pyrethroids are <12 h, the average 24-h 3-PBA concentrations may reflect chronic pyrethroid exposure more precisely than spot urine concentrations (Morgan et al., 2016; Ratelle et al., 2015).

  • Bioallethrin-induced generation of reactive species and oxidative damage in isolated human erythrocytes

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    A recent study on fish erythrocytes reported genotoxicity of bioallethrin using micronuclei assay (Chaudhari and Saxena, 2016). Although neurotoxic and behavioural effects on exposure to bioallethrin are well documented (Talts et al., 1998; Ahlbom et al., 1994; Eriksson and Nordberg, 1990) there is only limited work related to toxicity in other systems. Research suggests that pyrethroids increase free radical generation which affects integrity of plasma membrane leading to cell death (Banerjee et al., 2001; Sadowska-Woda et al., 2010; Romero et al., 2012).

  • A capillary micellar electrokinetic chromatography method for the stereoselective quantitation of bioallethrin in biotic and abiotic samples

    2017, Journal of Chromatography A
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    Exposure to large doses by either of the two absorption pathways can cause nausea, lack of coordination, tremors, convulsions, muscle paralysis, as well as, damage to the liver as it acts as an endocrine disruptor. Furthermore, bioallethrin is a central nervous system stimulant due to its interaction with the sodium channels in the membranes of neuronal cells [8,9]. The isomer [1R, trans; 1S] of bioallethrin (esbiol) originates severe damage to blood immunocompetent cells, being this effect higher when combined with piperonyl butoxide, an insecticide often found in commercial formulations of bioallethrin [10].

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