Subchronic Low-Dose Methylmercury Exposure Accelerated Cerebral Telomere Shortening in Relevant with Declined Urinary aMT6s Level in Rats

Author:

Wu Xi1,Li Ping2,Tao Junyan1,Chen Xiong1ORCID,Zhang Aihua1

Affiliation:

1. The Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Monitoring and Disease Control, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang 550025, China

2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China

Abstract

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a global pollutant with established toxic effects on the central nervous system (CNS). However, early events and early-warning biomarkers of CNS damage following exposure to low-dose MeHg are still lacking. This study aimed to investigate whether subchronic low-dose MeHg exposure had adverse effects on the cerebral telomere length, as well as serum melatonin and its urinary metabolite 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) in rats. Sixteen male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into two groups. Group I was the control group. In group II, rats were exposed to MeHg by gavage at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg/day for 3 months. This study revealed that MeHg exposure resulted in impairment of learning and memory ability, a slightly reduced number of neurons and an irregular arrangement of neurons in the hippocampus. It also significantly accelerated telomere shortening in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and hypothalamus. Moreover, MeHg exposure decreased the levels of melatonin in serum and aMT6s in urine, partly by suppressing the synthesis of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the brain but promoted the expression of melatonin-catalyzing AANAT and ASMT. Importantly, cerebral telomere length was positively correlated with MT and aMT6s after MeHg exposure. These results suggested that the shortened telomere length in the brain may be an early event in MeHg-induced CNS toxicity, and the level of aMT6s in urine may serve as an early-warning biomarker for MeHg-induced CNS damage.

Funder

National Natural Science Foundation of China

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Chemical Health and Safety,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis,Toxicology

Cited by 2 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Environmental Toxicology and Human Health;International Journal of Molecular Sciences;2023-12-31

2. Synchrotron X-ray methods in the study of mercury neurotoxicology;NeuroToxicology;2023-12

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