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Updated: May 31, 2026
Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018
Benzo[a]pyrene exposure increases toxic biomarkers and morphological disorders in mouse cervix
Meili Gao1, Yongfei Li, Ying Sun
1Institute of Cancer Research, Department of Biological Science and Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. gaomeili@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Abstract:
Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a representative compound of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exerting cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in the human liver, lung, stomach and skin. However, the toxic effect of BaP on cervical tissue remains unclear. This study was carried out to investigate the toxic effects of BaP on the cervix of ICR mice. Female mice were treated with BaP by intraperitoneal injection and oral gavage at a dose of 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg body-weight, twice a week for 14 weeks. BaP treatment caused a significant increase in the levels of MDA and IL-6 with significantly increased activity of CYP1A1, creatine kinase and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and decreased activity of glutathione-S-transferase in the cervix and liver. The relative cervix weight was markedly reduced in the intraperitoneal BaP injection groups, whereas only a slight reduction was observed in the oral gavage groups. The increase in weight decreased with increasing BaP dose. Moreover, BaP treatment induced significant pathomorphological changes in the cervical tissue and increased the mortality of the mice. Taken together, these results suggest that BaP causes a certain toxic effect on cervical tissue.
