Developmental lead exposure increases ethanol-induced locomotion in Caenorhabditis elegans

ALBRECHT PA; CARRANZA A; DEZA PONZIO R; CANCELA LM; ASIS R; VIRGOLINI MB,

Congreso; VIII LASBRA International Meeting: ?Neurobiological basis of alcoholism: from molecules to behavior?.; 2017

Previous studies have demonstrated thatdevelopmentally lead (Pb) exposure inducesa higher susceptibility to several responses toethanol. Caenorhabditis elegans has becomean excellent model to study theneurobehavioral responses to drugs,including ethanol. Nematodes in the L3 stagewere exposed to Pb(NO3)2 5mg/L during 96hs until their progenie reached the L1 stage.Thereafter, they were washed and transferredto a new plate free of Pb with food during 48hs. The ethanol effects on motility wereevaluated in L3 worms perinatally exposed toPb, 2 hs after the ethanol concentration in theagar reached 200 or 400 mM. The averagespeed of ten worms was registered during 2min either 10 min or 30 min after the onsetof ethanol exposure to evaluate the initialdepressor response that was followed by arecuperation effect characteristic of ethanolefects on motility. The results demonstratethat the perinatally-Pb exposed wormsdeveloped an increased motility both 10 and30 min after 400 mM ethanol compared totheir non-ethanol counterparts, an effect thatwas not evident in the control animals. Nodifferences were observed in any group at the200 mM ethanol concentration. Thus, thehypermotility observed in the perinatal Pbexposed worms implies a potentiation in thedevelopment of tolerance to the sedativeeffects of ethanol at the higher doseevaluated. It is concluded that the C. elegansmodel is suitable to reproduce the locomotorstimulants effect of ethanol that werepreviously reported by us in perinatally Pbexposedrats.