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LACK OF EFFECT OF PERINATAL EXPOSURE TO A POLYBROMINATED DEPHENYL OTHER MIXTURE (DE-71) ON THE HABITUATION OF MOTOR ACTIVITY IN ADULT RATS.
Citation:
MacPhail, R C., J D. Farmer, B Padnos, AND K M. Crofton. LACK OF EFFECT OF PERINATAL EXPOSURE TO A POLYBROMINATED DEPHENYL OTHER MIXTURE (DE-71) ON THE HABITUATION OF MOTOR ACTIVITY IN ADULT RATS. Presented at Society of Toxicology 42nd Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, March 9-13, 2003.
Description:
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as flame retardants and are becoming increasingly evident in environmental media, wildlife and human breast milk. Published research in mice has shown that early postnatal exposure to some PBDEs attenuates the habituation of motor activity when the pups were tested as adults. This experiment determined the effect of perinatal exposure of rats to the PBDE mixture DE-71 on the habituation of motor activity in adult offspring. Pregnant Long Evans rats (N=8/group) received (p.o.) either corn oil (1 ml/kg) or DE-71 (5, 30 or 100 mg/kg) from GD6 to PND21. Doses were based on prior research showing alterations in thyroid hormone status. As adults, one male and one female from each litter (total: 8 rats/treatment/gender) underwent habituation testing. Test sessions (45 min) were carried out in photocell devices that separately recorded horizontal and vertical activity in five 9-min intervals. In general, motor activity was highest early in the session, but dropped by approximately 65-75% by the end of the session. Perinatal exposure to DE-71 did not affect either overall levels of motor activity or the within-session habituation of activity in either gender. These results suggest that effects in mice postnatally exposed to individual PBDE congeners may not predict effects in adult offspring of rats perinatally exposed to DE-71.
This abstract does not necessarily reflect U.S. EPA policy.