EFFECTS OF PRENATAL LEAD EXPOSURE ON THE BEHAVIOR AND MORPHOLOGY OF SOME BRAIN REGIONS IN FEMALE AND MALE RATS

Lead is a toxic metal, the widespread use of which has led to environmental pollution, harmful effects on the body and health problems. Lead has a special effect on the developing organism.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prenatal exposure to different doses of lead on the emotional and social behavior and morphology of some brain structures of rat offspring. Some families of rats received normal drinking water, while other families received water with a 0.05% and 0.2% lead acetate content, respectively. Offspring of these rats at the age of 2 months were used for behavioral experiments: open field test, elevated plus maze, and tests determining social behavior. Results behavioral tests have shown that high dose of lead during prenatal development significantly affect animal behavior. At the same time, these changes differ in female and male rats. In particular, changes in male rats were pronounced when analyzing the results of the three-chamber social test.
Changes in the emotional state were observed in female rats. The elevated plus maze test showed that experimental animals had a pronounced excitability compared to controls, often displaying unclear uncontrollable behavior.
Morphological analysis performed on offspring showd a decrease in the number of neurons in cortical areas, in particular, in the prefrontal and motor cortex. The decrease in neuron number in female rats was much more noticeable in the amygdala region. Some of these neurons showed signs of aponecrosis.