Abstract
Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), including hexachloronaphthalene (HxCN), are widespread global environmental contaminants. Our experiments were aimed at assessing HxCN effects on motor behavior, long-term memory, pain sensitivity, magnitude of stress-induced analgesia, auditory function and sensorimotor gating, following repeated intragastric administration (28 days) of HxCN at 0.3 and 1.0mg/kg body weight. Three weeks after the exposure termination, male Wistar rats were subjected to the neurobehavioral tests battery performed in the following order: open-field test, passive avoidance test, hot-plate test and acoustic startle response test.Repeated administration of HxCN induced disorders of motivational processes manifested by: anorectic effect caused by aphagia and adipsia; significantly reduced motor activity (hypokinesia); impaired long-term memory and acquired passive avoidance reaction; reduced pain threshold and shortened duration of anxiety reaction after pain stimulus (sensory neglect). Some of these neurobehavioral effects (impaired long-term memory, reduced pain threshold and stress-induced analgesia) were observed at 0.3mgHxCN/kg body weight without any signs of overt toxicity.The outcome of our study shows that HxCN, like other compounds of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) group, creates a potential risk of behavioral changes in the central nervous system in the general population as a result of environmental exposure.
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