Li XiaoBo, Zhang Xin, Ju Jingjuan, Li Yunhui, Yin Lihong, Pu Yuepu
Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2015 Jan;34(1):64-9. doi: 10.1002/etc.2765. Epub 2014 Nov 17.
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.
微囊藻毒素是由某些有毒蓝藻水华分泌的有毒肽。研究最广泛的微囊藻毒素是微囊藻毒素-LR（MC-LR），它具有肝毒性和神经毒性。然而，关于母体暴露后对后代的影响，现有信息有限。本研究旨在观察孕期暴露于MC-LR对大鼠产后发育的影响。将28日龄的雌性Sprague-Dawley大鼠随机分为对照组和3个处理组（1.0μg MC-LR/kg体重、5.0μg MC-LR/kg体重和20.0μg MC-LR/kg体重），每组7只大鼠。每48小时通过灌胃给予MC-LR，持续8周。以纯水作为对照。每只雌性大鼠与未暴露的成年雄性大鼠交配。在出生后第7天，通过表面翻正反射、负趋地性和避崖试验检测幼崽的运动发育、行为发育和学习能力。在出生后第28天和第60天进行旷场试验和莫里斯水迷宫试验。还检测了大鼠海马中脂质过氧化产物水平和抗氧化指标。在避崖试验中，MC-LR处理组的幼崽得分显著低于对照组（p<0.05）。与对照组相比，暴露于MC-LR的幼崽认知障碍、丙二醛水平和总超氧化物歧化酶活性显著增加（p<0.05）。因此，本研究表明母体暴露于MC-LR对大鼠后代的神经发育有不利影响。
