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The Toxicological Effects in Brain of Mice Following Exposure to Cerium Chloride

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An Erratum to this article was published on 22 May 2012

Abstract

Cerium (Ce) compounds are now widely applied in medicine, agriculture, animal breeding, and daily life; however, the effects of Ce on human body, especially on the central nervous system, are still unclear. In order to investigate whether Ce exposure cause neurotoxicological effects, ICR mice were exposed to CeCl3 through intragastric administration at 0, 2, 10, and 20 mg/kg body weight doses everyday for 60 days. The behaviors of spatial recognition memory, brain histopathology, the brain elements and neurochemicals, as well as enzymes activities in mice were determined. The Y-maze test showed that CeCl3 exposure could significantly impair the behaviors of spatial recognition memory. Specifically, in these Ln3+-treated mice, the contents of Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, and Zn in brain were significantly altered, the activities of Na+/K+-ATPase, Ca2+-ATPase, Ca2+/Mg2+-ATPase, acetylcholine esterase, and nitric oxide synthase were significantly inhibited; monoamines neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, dopamine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine were significantly decreased, while the contents of acetylcholine, glutamate, and nitric oxide were significantly increased. These results indicated that CeCl3 exposure could impair the learning ability, which is attributed to the disturbance of the homeostasis of trace elements, enzymes, and neurotransmitter systems in the mouse brain. Therefore, our study aroused the attention of Ln application and long-term exposure effects.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 30901218) and the National New Ideas Foundation of Student of China (grant no.5731511410).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Haiquan Zha, Zhe Cheng, Jie Chen, Renping Hu, Yi Che, Yaling Cui, Ling Wang & Fashui Hong

  2. College of Life Sciences, Anhui Agriculture University, Hefei, 230036, People’s Republic of China

    Haiquan Zha

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  1. Haiquan Zha
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  2. Zhe Cheng
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  3. Jie Chen
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  7. Ling Wang
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Correspondence to Fashui Hong.

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Haiquan Zha, Zhe Cheng, and Jie Chen contributed equally to this work.

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Zha, H., Cheng, Z., Chen, J. et al. The Toxicological Effects in Brain of Mice Following Exposure to Cerium Chloride. Biol Trace Elem Res 144, 872–884 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-011-9045-6

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