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Lactational DEHP Exposure‐Impaired Motor Coordination and Motor Skill Learning in Adolescent Rats
Author(s) -
Yueh ShuChieh,
Yang ReiCheng,
Wang DeanChuan
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1122.1
Subject(s) - motor coordination , phthalate , cerebellum , motor learning , medicine , eyeblink conditioning , endocrinology , motor skill , weaning , physiology , psychology , chemistry , neuroscience , conditioning , classical conditioning , statistics , mathematics , organic chemistry
Di‐(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) migrates from the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) devices to the environment and is considered as an environmental contaminant. The purpose of this study is whether neonatal DEHP exposure affects functions of the cerebellum. Sprague‐Dawley female rats were orally fed with DEHP (10 mg/kg/day) or corn oil everyday during lactational period. After weaning (postnatal day 22), the male pups were divided into 2 groups: control and DEHP. At 8 weeks old rats were trained on the rotarod to evaluate the motor coordination and then trained on a runway to evaluate the cerebellar‐dependent motor skill learning. After a 7‐day motor skill learning paradigm, rats were sacrificed and their cerebella were isolated for detection of Purkinje cells‐specific marker calbindin D28K, an important calcium buffer in the neurons, by Western blotting. The results show that motor coordination and motor skill learning were both impaired in the DEHP group compared to the Control group. The expression of calbindin D28K was increased significantly in the DEHP group, indicating a disturbed calcium homeostasis in the cerebellum of DEHP‐exposed rats. These data demonstrate that neonatal DEHP‐exposure may induce cerebellar dysfunction in adolescent rats.