Effect of ganglioside on synaptic plasticity of hippocampus in lead-exposed rats in vivo

• Published in: Brain research 2005-10, Vol.1060 (1), p.162-169
• Main Authors: She, Jia-Qi, Wang, Ming, Zhu, Da-Miao, Sun, Li-Guang, Ruan, Di-Yun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases; Depotentiation; Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials - drug effects; Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials - physiology; Female; Ganglioside; Gangliosides - pharmacology; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - drug effects; Hippocampus - physiology; Lead; Lead - toxicity; Long-term potentiation (LTP); Male; Medical sciences; Metals and various inorganic compounds; Neuronal Plasticity - drug effects; Neuronal Plasticity - physiology; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - prevention & control; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Synapses - drug effects; Synapses - physiology; Toxicology
• ISSN: 0006-8993; 1872-6240
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2005.08.044

Synaptic plasticity, including long-term potentiation (LTP), long-term depression (LTD) and depotentiation (DP), is important for learning and memory. Previous studies proved that chronic lead exposure especially during early post-natal development induced impairment on synapse plasticity. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of ganglioside on the lead-induced impairments of LTP and DP in rat dentate gyrus in vivo. The experiments were carried out in three groups of rats (control, lead-exposed, ganglioside-treated lead-exposed, respectively). The input–output ( I/ O) function, pair pulses reaction, excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP) and population spike (PS) amplitude were measured in the dentate gyrus (DG) of adult rats (70–90 days) in response to stimulation applied to the lateral perforant path. The results show that (1) chronic lead exposure impaired LTP/DP measured on both EPSP slope and PS amplitude in DG area of the hippocampus. (2) The amplitudes of LTP/DP of lead-exposed group were significantly increased by supplying ganglioside. These results suggest intraperitoneally injection with ganglioside could reverse the lead-induced impairments of synaptic plasticity in rats and might be effective in attenuating the cognitive deficits induced by lead.