Behavioral and transcriptional effects of acrylamide‐induced neurotoxicity in rat pups

Abstract

The goal of this project was to assess both behavioral effect and gene expression changes induced by acrylamide neurotoxicity in rats when administered during early postnatal life. Three week old male Wistar rats were administered acrylamide daily (30 mg/kg, p.o.) for twenty one days. Neurobehavioral effects were assessed using locomotor activity, weight, hind‐limb heel splay, fore‐limb and hind‐limb grip strength. Acrylamide treatment induced significant characteristic neurotoxic symptoms: increased heel splay, decrease in grip strength, and decrease in locomotor activity. Acrylamide caused significant loss of weight gain starting at day fourteen (p<0.001) and a significant reduction in hind‐limb grip strength (p<0.001). Similarly, on day fourteen hind limb heel splay was significantly increased (p<0.01). Reduction in locomotor activity began in the treated rats on day sixteen (p<0.01). On the other hand, fore‐limb grip strength was not affected. Gene expression changes were evaluated in the cerebellum, spinal cord, and sciatic nerve of acrylamide‐treated rats. At a 2 fold cutoff, one gene was up‐regulated and fifteen genes were down‐regulated among the three tissues. RT‐PCR was conducted to validate the microarray data. The identified differentially expressed genes play a role in neuronal development, muscle contraction, and control of motor function.