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The Effects of Maternal Atrazine Exposure and Swimming Training on Spatial Learning Memory and Hippocampal Morphology in Offspring Male Rats via PSD95/NR2B Signaling Pathway

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Abstract

Atrazine (ATR), a widely used herbicide, has been previously shown to damage spatial memory capability and the hippocampus of male rats during the development. It has also been indicated that physical exercise can improve learning and memory in both humans and animals, as a neuroprotective method. Our aim here was to investigate the effect of maternal ATR exposure during gestation and lactation on spatial learning and memory function and hippocampal morphology in offspring and to further evaluate the neuroprotective effect of swimming training and identify possible related learning and memory signaling pathways. Using Sprague-Dawley rats, we examined behavioral and molecular biology effects associated with maternal ATR exposure, as well as the effects of 8 or 28 days swimming training. Maternal exposure to ATR was found to impair spatial learning and memory by behavioral test, damage the hippocampal morphology, and reduce related genes and proteins expression of learning and memory in the hippocampus. The extended, 28 days, period of swimming training produced a greater amelioration of the adverse effects of ATR exposure than the shorter, 8 days, training period. Our results suggest that maternal ATR exposure may damage the spatial learning and memory of offspring male rats via PSD95/NR2B signaling pathway. The negative effect of ATR could be at least partially reversed by swimming training, pointing to a potential neuroprotective role of physical exercise in nervous system diseases accompanying by learning and memory deficit.

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Abbreviations

ATR:

Atrazine

IEG:

Immediate-early gene

JNK:

c-Jun N-terminal kinase

NMDA:

N-methyl-d-aspartic acid

NR2B:

NMDA receptor subunit 2B

PI3 K:

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase

p-JNK:

Phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase

PSD95:

Postsynaptic density protein-95

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Di Huang and Xi Li at the Harbin Medical University for critically revising the manuscript and performing the statistical analysis. There was no specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors in this research.

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  1. Dandan Wang and Bai Li are Co-first authors.

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  1. Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150086, China

    Dandan Wang, Bai Li, Yanping Wu & Baixiang Li

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  1. Dandan Wang
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  2. Bai Li
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Contributions

BL, DW, and BL all participated in the study design. DW, BL, and YW conducted the experiments. DW performed the data analysis and the writing of the manuscript. BL read the final manuscript and provided financial support.

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Correspondence to Baixiang Li.

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Wang, D., Li, B., Wu, Y. et al. The Effects of Maternal Atrazine Exposure and Swimming Training on Spatial Learning Memory and Hippocampal Morphology in Offspring Male Rats via PSD95/NR2B Signaling Pathway. Cell Mol Neurobiol 39, 1003–1015 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-019-00695-3

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