A study of the age-related effects of lactational atrazine exposure

• Published in: Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2017-04, Vol.69, p.230-241
• Main Authors: Sun, Yan, Li, Yan-Shu, Li, Bai, Ma, Kun, Li, Bai-Xiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid - metabolism; Age Factors; Animals; Atrazine; Atrazine - toxicity; Corpus Striatum - drug effects; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Developmental susceptibility; Dopamine - metabolism; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - genetics; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - metabolism; Dopaminergic metabolism pathway; Dopaminergic Neurons - drug effects; Female; Herbicides - toxicity; Homovanillic Acid - metabolism; Lactation - metabolism; Male; Mesencephalon - drug effects; Mesencephalon - metabolism; Monoamine Oxidase - genetics; Monoamine Oxidase - metabolism; Nuclear receptor related factor 1; Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 2 - genetics; Parkinson’s Disease; Pregnancy; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins - genetics; Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins - metabolism
• ISSN: 0890-6238; 1873-1708
• DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2017.03.011

•Early life exposure to Atrazine leads to persistent alterations on dopaminergic neuron.•Dopaminergic neuron injuries become more severe during aging.•A down-regulation of Nurr1 expression is the early key event. A growing number of reports have demonstrated that the widely-used herbicide Atrazine (ATR) can cause injury to dopamine (DA) neurons, but the exact mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of lactational ATR exposure in Sprague-Dawley rats on dopaminergic neuron health later in life. Compared with control rats, rats exposed to ATR during a critical period of neural development showed decreased striatal DA content and increased rates of DA turnover. The expression of Monoamine oxidase (MAO), which is associated with DA degradation, was up-regulated, and the expression of Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2 (VMAT2), which is associated with DA transport, was down-regulated. The expression of transcription factor Nuclear Receptor Related Factor 1 (Nurr1), which is associated with DA neuron development, was down-regulated. Increased age (6–12 months old) increased the statistical significance of the differences of the above indicators in the ATR-treated rats compared to the control rats (P