Exploration of the establishment of manganese poisoning rat model and analysis of discriminant methods.

OBJECTIVE

We explored methods to establish an animal model of manganese poisoning and evaluate the feasibility of the determination method.

METHODS

Twenty-four specific pathogen-free male rats were randomly divided into four groups: control, low-dose (15.0 mg/kg), middle-dose (25.0 mg/kg), and high-dose (50.0 mg/kg). Intraperitoneal injection of MnCl·HO was administered every 48 h for three months. Rats were tested for behavior, muscle tension, and with a balance beam experiment at the end of each month. Three months later, the rats were sacrificed and brain tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression levels were measured.

RESULTS

Rats in each group exhibited changes in behavior, muscle tone, and balance after exposure to manganese, and the scores of each test for the high-dose and middle-dose groups were statistically different from the low-dose and control groups. Finally, a rat model of manganese poisoning was identified with the TH expression less than 30% of the normal value. We find that the modeling success rate of the middle-dose and high-dose groups were 66.67% and 100%, respectively. In addition, there were negative correlations between the three assessment methods such as behavioral tests and TH expression levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Intraperitoneal injection of MnCl·HO (25 mg/kg) can successfully establish a manganese poisoning rat model with low mortality rate. Muscle tension, balance beam, and behavioral tests can be used as preliminary determination methods for modeling.