Neurobehavioral Responses and Toxic Brain Reactions of Juvenile Rats Exposed to Iprodione and Chlorpyrifos, Alone and in a Mixture

• Published in: Toxics (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 5; p. 431
• Main Authors: Abd-Elhakim, Yasmina M, El Sharkawy, Nabela I, Gharib, Heba S A, Hassan, Mona A, Metwally, Mohamed M M, Elbohi, Khlood M, Hassan, Bayan A, Mohammed, Amany Tharwat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05.05.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Acetylcholinesterase; Analysis; Animals; Anxiety; Behavior; Behavioral toxicology; Brain; Brain architecture; Brain research; Chlorpyrifos; Crops; depression; Environmental aspects; Exposure; Fruits; Fungicides; Health aspects; Insecticides; Iprodione; Lipid peroxidation; Locomotion; Mental depression; Neurotoxicity; Organic mental disorder; Oxidative stress; Pesticides; Puberty; Risk factors; Strawberries; Swimming; Toxicity; Egypt; anxiety; chlorpyrifos; iprodione; acetylcholinesterase; depression; brain; oxidative stress
• ISSN: 2305-6304; 2305-6304
• DOI: 10.3390/toxics11050431

Herein, male juvenile rats (23th postnatal days (PND)) were exposed to chlorpyrifos (CPS) (7.5 mg/kg b.wt) and/or iprodione (IPD) (200 mg IPD /kg b.wt) until the onset of puberty (60th day PND). Our results demonstrated that IPD and/or CPS exposure considerably reduced locomotion and exploration. However, CPS single exposure induced anxiolytic effects. Yet, neither IPD nor IPD + CPS exposure significantly affected the anxiety index. Of note, IPD and/or CPS-exposed rats showed reduced swimming time. Moreover, IPD induced significant depression. Nonetheless, the CPS- and IPD + CPS-exposed rats showed reduced depression. The individual or concurrent IPD and CPS exposure significantly reduced TAC, NE, and AChE but increased MDA with the maximum alteration at the co-exposure. Moreover, many notable structural encephalopathic alterations were detected in IPD and/or CPS-exposed rat brain tissues. The IPD + CPS co-exposed rats revealed significantly more severe lesions with higher frequencies than the IPD or CPS-exposed ones. Conclusively, IPD exposure induced evident neurobehavioral alterations and toxic reactions in the brain tissues. IPD and CPS have different neurobehavioral effects, particularly regarding depression and anxiety. Hence, co-exposure to IPD and CPS resulted in fewer neurobehavioral aberrations relative to each exposure. Nevertheless, their simultaneous exposure resulted in more brain biochemistry and histological architecture disturbances.