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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Toxicol.
Sec. Neurotoxicology
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1416708
This article is part of the Research Topic Global Excellence in Toxicology: Central and South America View all 4 articles

Hypoactivity and neurochemical basal ganglia alterations after the repeated exposure to atrazine in female Sprague-Dawley rats

Provisionally accepted
Triana Acevedo-Huergo Triana Acevedo-Huergo Jonathan Sánchez-Yépez Jonathan Sánchez-Yépez María Soledad Mendoza-Trejo María Soledad Mendoza-Trejo Isela Hernández-Plata Isela Hernández-Plata Magda Giordano Magda Giordano Veronica M. Rodriguez Veronica M. Rodriguez *
  • Departamento de Neurobiología Conductual y Cognitiva, Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Querétaro, Mexico

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The herbicide atrazine (ATR) has been one of the most widely used herbicides worldwide. However, due to its indiscriminate use, it has been considered an environmental contaminant. Several studies have classified ATR as an endocrine disruptor, and it has been found to have neurotoxic effects on behavior, along with alterations in the dopaminergic, GABAergic, and glutamatergic systems in the basal ganglia of male rodents. These findings suggest that these neurotransmitter systems are targets of this herbicide. However, there are no studies evaluating the neurotoxicity of ATR in female rodents; our study aimed to assess the effects of repeated IP injections of 100 mg ATR/kg or a vehicle every other day for two weeks (six injections) on the locomotor activity, content of monoamines, GABA, glutamate, and glutamine in the striatum, nucleus accumbens, ventral midbrain, and prefrontal cortex, and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein levels in striatum and nucleus accumbens of female rats. Repeated 100 mg ATR/kg injections immediately decreased all the locomotor activity parameters evaluated, and such hypoactivity persisted for at least 48 hours after the last ATR administration. The ATR administration increased dopamine and DOPAC content in the nucleus accumbens and the dopamine and DOPAC and serotonin and 5-HIAA content in the ventral midbrain. In contrast, the TH protein levels in the striatum and nucleus accumbens were similar between groups. Meanwhile, GABA, glutamine, and glutamate levels remained unaltered in all brain regions evaluated. The observed behavioral alterations could be associated with the monoamine changes presented by the rats. These data reveal that the nucleus accumbens and ventral midbrain are susceptible to repeated ATR exposure in female rats.

    Keywords: Atrazine, female rats, neurotransmitters, locomotor activity, Herbicides - toxicity

    Received: 12 Apr 2024; Accepted: 17 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Acevedo-Huergo, Sánchez-Yépez, Mendoza-Trejo, Hernández-Plata, Giordano and Rodriguez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Veronica M. Rodriguez, Departamento de Neurobiología Conductual y Cognitiva, Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Querétaro, Mexico

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