Acute chlordecone toxicity in rats: a relationship between tremor and ATPase activities

Since we have demonstrated that ATPase system was sensitive to chlordecone, it was decided to examine the relationship between physiological and biochemical responses to this neurotoxin. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with chlordecone by gastric intubation at 10, 25 and 50 mg/kg/day for three days. Control rats received 0.3 ml of corn oil. Complete body movements (including tremors) were monitored for a period of 12 hr at 24, 48 and 72 hr after treatment by a piezoelectric crystal attached to the bottom of a plastic rodent cage. The output of the crystal was recorded by a Grass model of EEG machine and magnetic tape. For biochemical study chlordecone treated rats were killed, the brain synaptosomes were prepared and Na+-K+ ATPase, oligomycin-sensitive and insensitive Mg2+ ATPases were determined. Rats receiving chlordecone showed an increased tremor activity which was significant and dose- dependent with a correlation coefficient of the regression line of 0.96. The onset of tremors was evident as early as 2 hr in 50 mg/kg dosed rats. Behavioral abnormalities include startling response to external stimuli like sound, etc. The brain synaptosomal Na+-K+ and oligomycin-sensitive Mg2+ ATPases were significantly decreased in chlordecone treated rats as compared to controls and the decrease was dose-dependent. A linear relationship was observed between the decreases in ATPase activities and physiological (tremor) activity with an r value of 0.96. These results suggest that the inhibition of ATPase system in brain may be related to the production of the neurotoxic symptoms.