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Individual and Combined Effects of Arsenic and Lead on Behavioral and Biochemical Changes in Mice

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Abstract

Arsenic (As) toxicity has caused an environmental tragedy affecting millions of people in the world. Little is known about the toxic effects of As on neurobehavioral and biochemical changes in vivo. Along this line of metal toxicity, co-exposure of lead (Pb) could aggravate the situation in the host. The present study was designed to explore the combined effects of As and Pb on behavioral changes like anxiety, spatial memory and learning impairment, and blood indices related to organ dysfunction. Exposure of mice to As (10 mg/kg body weight), Pb (10 mg/kg body weight), and As + Pb via drinking water significantly decreased the time spent exploring the open arms while it increased the time spent in the closed arms compared to control mice in the elevated plus maze. The mean latency time of the control group to find the platform decreased significantly during the learning for 7 days compared to all three treated groups in the Morris water maze test, and the As-exposed group spent significantly less time in the desired quadrant as compared to the control group in the probe trial. Both metals posed an anxiety-like behavior and deficits in spatial memory and learning, and also altered blood indices related to liver and kidney dysfunction, and a combined exposure of these metals inhibited the individual accumulation of As and Pb. Taken together, these data suggest that As has more toxic effects on neurobehavioral and biochemical changes than Pb, and there may be antagonism in the effects and accumulation between these two toxicants.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh (39.009.006.01.00.049.2013-2014/BS/104), and the University of Rajshahi (300(6)-5/52/RABI/BINGAN (1)/2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, 6205, Bangladesh

    Sharmin Aktar, Momotaj Jahan, Shahnur Alam, Nayan Chandra Mohanto, Afroza Arefin, Atiqur Rahman, Khaled Hossain & Zahangir Alam Saud

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Santosh, Tangail, 1902, Bangladesh

    Sharmin Aktar

  3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Azizul Haque

  4. Laboratory of Molecular Nutrition and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Tokushima, 770-8514, Japan

    Seiichiro Himeno

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Aktar, S., Jahan, M., Alam, S. et al. Individual and Combined Effects of Arsenic and Lead on Behavioral and Biochemical Changes in Mice. Biol Trace Elem Res 177, 288–296 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0883-0

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