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[Toxicity to neural cell development of lead and its relation to glutathione]
1Department of Maternal and Child Health, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100083, China.
Objective:
To investigate the toxicity of lead to embryonic neural cell development and its relation to glutathione level.
Methods:
Rat midbrain micromass culture method was used to observe effects of lead on viability, differentiation and glutathione (GSH) content of embryonic neural cells.
Results:
Lead concentrations at 3.69 micromol/L and 1.03 micromol/L could inhibit neural cell variability and differentiation by 50%, respectively, both in a significant dose-response pattern. Lead also could cause increase level of glutathione. N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an antioxidant, could not only reduce adverse effect of lead on GSH, but also antagonize its toxicity to cell survival and differentiation.
Conclusion:
Lead can specifically inhibit neural cell differentiation and its neurotoxic effects on brain cell development correlated to imbalance in redox status which is mainly mediated by decrease of GSH content.