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Prenatal methylmercury exposure: effects on stress response during active learning

Maria Rosaria Carratù1, Addolorata Coluccia, Antonella M E Modafferi

  • 1Department of Pharmacology and Human Physiology, Medical School, University of Bari, Policlinico, Bari, Italy. mrc@farmacol.uniba.it

Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
|September 13, 2008
PubMed

The long-term impact of prenatal methylmercury (MeHg) exposure on the stress response during active learning was investigated. Pregnant rats were gavage fed MeHg (8 mg/kg) on gestational day 15. Ninety-day-old rats born to both MeHg- and saline-treated dams were subjected to an active avoidance test. The active avoidance-experienced rats (AAERs) with prenatal exposure to MeHg showed significant impairment in learning ability and exhibited higher levels of corticosterone than the untreated AAERs. The present findings suggest that the abnormal increase in plasma corticosterone levels could contribute to the poor performance of MeHg-treated AAERs in this learning task.

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