[Electric maze test in rats after prenatal methylmercury exposure]

To study the changes of rat's learning and memory ability in maze test after prenatal methylmercury exposure, methylmercury in doses of 0, 0.01, 0.05 and 2.00 mg/(kg.d) were fed to pregnant rats at the 6th-9th day after conception. We adopted a Y-shaped electric maze to detect learning and memory ability of the rat offspring. Double blind was used in the experiment. The results showed that the error times and arrival time of all exposure groups were more, and active avoidance ratio of all exposure groups was less than that of control group. The differences were significant(P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). There was no difference between male and female rats. It is concluded that methylmercury could affect the growth and development of central nerve system. The learning and memory ability of rat offspring was greatly damaged.