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In studies from this laboratory, the chronic administration of ZnTe during pregnancy, lactation, and prepuberal stages of litter (F1 generation) modified the behavioral patterns of motivated exploration, lateralized exploration, social activity, and survival responses of maturing rats. To determine whether these affected behaviors would extend to the next generation, F1 litter rats previously exposed to tellurium (Te) up to 30-day-old were left at rest with no further treatment up to 90-day-old. Then, F1 female rats were mated with normal untreated male rats, and in the next generation (F2), the litter rats at 30-day-old preserved the modified behaviors previously observed in their parents. The study revealed that Te effects were intergenerational. Here, considering that ZnTe was used in the previous study and that Zn ion has many physiological functions in the cell, experiments were conducted to elucidate if Zn would have an intergenerational effect similar to Te. Working with the same experimental setup as in the previous study but using ZnCl2 instead of ZnTe, results revealed that none of the behavioral responses studied were affected by the F1 generation. However, in the F2 generation, lateralized exploration and survival behavior were inhibited, suggesting that Zn also has an intergenerational effect.


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Behavioural multigenerational effects induced by the administration of very low doses of zinc during pregnancy, lactation, and prepuberal period in the rat

Show Author's information Silvia G. Ratti1,3Osvaldo J. Sacchi1,2Edgardo O. Alvarez1( )
Laboratorio de Epigénesis y Neuropsicofarmacología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Católica de Cuyo, sede San Luis, San Luis, Argentina
IMBECU, CONICET, CCT, Mendoza, Argentina
Área de Farmacología, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

Abstract

In studies from this laboratory, the chronic administration of ZnTe during pregnancy, lactation, and prepuberal stages of litter (F1 generation) modified the behavioral patterns of motivated exploration, lateralized exploration, social activity, and survival responses of maturing rats. To determine whether these affected behaviors would extend to the next generation, F1 litter rats previously exposed to tellurium (Te) up to 30-day-old were left at rest with no further treatment up to 90-day-old. Then, F1 female rats were mated with normal untreated male rats, and in the next generation (F2), the litter rats at 30-day-old preserved the modified behaviors previously observed in their parents. The study revealed that Te effects were intergenerational. Here, considering that ZnTe was used in the previous study and that Zn ion has many physiological functions in the cell, experiments were conducted to elucidate if Zn would have an intergenerational effect similar to Te. Working with the same experimental setup as in the previous study but using ZnCl2 instead of ZnTe, results revealed that none of the behavioral responses studied were affected by the F1 generation. However, in the F2 generation, lateralized exploration and survival behavior were inhibited, suggesting that Zn also has an intergenerational effect.

Keywords: laterality, zinc, trace element, transgenerational effects

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Publication history

Received: 17 October 2020
Revised: 02 March 2021
Accepted: 19 March 2021
Published: 09 June 2021
Issue date: March 2021

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© The authors 2021

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This article is published with open access at http://jnr.tsinghuajournals.com

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