University of Tasmania
Browse
- No file added yet -

Exposure to N-Ethyl-N-Nitrosourea in adult mice alters structural and functional integrity of neurogenic sites

Download (1.7 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 11:18 authored by Capilla-Gonzalez, V, Gil-Perotin, S, Ferraqud, A, Bonet-Ponce, L, Canales, JJ, Garcia-Verdugo, JM

Background: Previous studies have shown that prenatal exposure to the mutagen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU), a N-nitroso compound (NOC) found in the environment, disrupts developmental neurogenesis and alters memory formation. Previously, we showed that postnatal ENU treatment induced lasting deficits in proliferation of neural progenitors in the subventricular zone (SVZ), the main neurogenic region in the adult mouse brain. The present study is aimed to examine, in mice exposed to ENU, both the structural features of adult neurogenic sites, incorporating the dentate gyrus (DG), and the behavioral performance in tasks sensitive to manipulations of adult neurogenesis.

Methodology/Principal Findings: 2-month old mice received 5 doses of ENU and were sacrificed 45 days after treatment. Then, an ultrastructural analysis of the SVZ and DG was performed to determine cellular composition in these regions, confirming a significant alteration. After bromodeoxyuridine injections, an S-phase exogenous marker, the immunohistochemical analysis revealed a deficit in proliferation and a decreased recruitment of newly generated cells in neurogenic areas of ENU-treated animals. Behavioral effects were also detected after ENU-exposure, observing impairment in odor discrimination task (habituation-dishabituation test) and a deficit in spatial memory (Barnes maze performance), two functions primarily related to the SVZ and the DG regions, respectively.

Conclusions/Significance: The results demonstrate that postnatal exposure to ENU produces severe disruption of adult neurogenesis in the SVZ and DG, as well as strong behavioral impairments. These findings highlight the potential risk of environmental NOC-exposure for the development of neural and behavioral deficits.

History

Publication title

PloS one

Volume

7

Article number

e29891

Number

e29891

Pagination

1-12

ISSN

1932-6203

Department/School

School of Psychological Sciences

Publisher

Public Library of Science

Place of publication

United States

Rights statement

Copyright 2012 Capilla-Gonzalez et al. Licenced under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in psychology

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC