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Environmental tobacco smoke in the early postnatal period induces impairment in brain myelination

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Abstract

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is associated with high morbidity and mortality, mainly in children. However, few studies focus on the brain development effects of ETS exposure. Myelination mainly occurs in the early years of life in humans and the first three postnatal weeks in rodents and is sensitive to xenobiotics exposure. This study investigated the effects of early postnatal ETS exposure on myelination. BALB/c mice were exposed to ETS generated from 3R4F reference research cigarettes from the third to the fourteenth days of life. The myelination of nerve fibers in the optic nerve by morphometric analysis and the levels of Olig1 and myelin basic protein (MBP) were evaluated in the cerebellum, diencephalon, telencephalon, and brainstem in infancy, adolescence, and adulthood. Infant mice exposed to ETS showed a decrease in the percentage of myelinated fibers in the optic nerve, compared with controls. ETS induced a decrease in Olig1 protein levels in the cerebellum and brainstem and an increase in MBP levels in the cerebellum at infant. It was also found a decrease in MBP levels in the telencephalon and brainstem at adolescence and in the cerebellum and diencephalon at adulthood. The present study demonstrates that exposure to ETS, in a critical phase of development, affects the percentage of myelinated fibers and myelin-specific proteins in infant mice. Although we did not observe differences in the morphological analysis in adolescence and adulthood, there was a decrease in MBP levels in distinctive brain regions suggesting a delayed effect in adolescence and adulthood.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Lívia Mendonça Munhoz Dati, Gaspar Ferreira de Lima, and Edson Rocha de Oliveira. This work was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo—FAPESP, Grant 2009/14621-1); Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES); and National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq). Th.M., R.C., L.R.G.B. and T.M. are research fellows of CNPq.

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  1. Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Av Prof Lineu Prestes, 580 Bl 13B, São Paulo, SP, CEP 05508-000, Brazil

    Larissa H. Torres, Natalia T. Balestrin, Priscila L. Coleto, Stephanie O. Duro, Raphael C. T. Garcia & Tania Marcourakis

  2. Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Raquel Annoni & Thais Mauad

  3. Department of Clinical Pathology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Maurílio Pacheco-Neto

  4. Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Rosana Camarini

  5. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luiz R. G. Britto

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  1. Larissa H. Torres
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Correspondence to Tania Marcourakis.

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Torres, L.H., Annoni, R., Balestrin, N.T. et al. Environmental tobacco smoke in the early postnatal period induces impairment in brain myelination. Arch Toxicol 89, 2051–2058 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-014-1343-2

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