|
A large number of man-made chemicals that have been released into the environment have the potential to disrupt the endocrine system of animals and humans. There is a critical developmental period during which sexual brain differentiation proceeds irreversibly under the influence of gonadal hormone. Recently we identified KAP3 gene expressed during the critical period of rat brain sexual differentiation. KAP3 functions as a microtubule-based motor that transports membranous organelles anterogradely in cells, including neurons. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of endocrine disrupter, Dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), on the KAP3 gene expression during critical period of rat brain development. Maternal exposure to DDT increased the level of KAP3 mRNA in male and female fetus brains when examined on the gestational day 17 (GDl7). In postnatal day 6, DDT suppressed the expression of KAP3 gene in male and female rat brain. Also, the body weight and fertilization rate were decreased in the DDT exposured rats. These results showed that endocrine disrupter, DDT, can affect the transcriptional level of brain sexual differentiation related gene, KAP3, in the prenatal and the neonatal rat brain and that maternal exposure to endocrine disruptors may lead to a toxic response in embryonic differentiation of brain. And so KAP3 gene may be used a gene maker to analyse the molecular mechanism for toxic response in animal nerve tissues exposed to endocrine disruptors.
|