Bìol. Tvarin, 2017, volume 19, issue 3, pp. 25–35

NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS IN FEMALE RATS AND THEIR OFFSPRING AFTER CHLORPYRIFOS INTOXICATION PRIOR TO FERTILISATION

S. V. Grabovska

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Institute of Animal Biology NAAS,
38 V. Stus str., Lviv 79034, Ukraine

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is one of the most popular organophosphate pesticides. The main mechanism of its action is irreversible acetylcholinesterase inhibition, which leads to a neurotoxic effect. There is evidence that CPF exposure to mothers shortly before or during pregnancy can cause behavioral abnormalities in their children.

The purpose of this work was to investigate the effects of CPF intoxication of female rats before fertilization on neurobehavioral, biochemical and hematological parameters of their offspring. To investigate the changes, behavioral techniques were used (“Open Field”, “Dark/Light Box”, “Extrapolation Escape” tests), as well as biochemical (assessing aspartate and alanine aminotransferase activity, alkaline phosphatase activity, content of total protein, cholesterol, triglycerides and creatinine), hematological (quantitative analysis of white, red blood cells and thrombocytes) and morphometric methods. Female rats were exposed to oil CPF solution at doses of 15, 30 and 60 mg/kg, via oro-gastric tube.

In intoxicated females decreased activity of acetylcholinesterase and increased alkaline phosphatase activity (which is characteristic of poisoning by organophosphorus compounds) were found, as well as some decrease in vertical motor activity and number of short grooming acts in the “Open Field” test. In the offspring of intoxicated females, a sharp increase in mortality rate in the early postnatal period was observed, and behavioral tests conducted at the age of 1.5 months showed an abnormal reaction of these animals to moderate stress: they spent much more time in the illuminated compartment in the “Dark/Light Box” test. Additionally, we detected a decrease of plasma alkaline phosphatase activity in the offspring of the experimental group.

Based on the obtained results we may conclude that CPF intoxication before pregnancy altered behavioral parameters of the future offspring. The mechanisms of such influence require a more detailed study and make a promising direction for further researches.

Keywords: CHLORPYRIFOS, RATS, SECOND GENERATION, BEHAVIOUR, CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

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