Cargando…

Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant that is known to be neurotoxic, particularly during fetal development. However, the mechanisms responsible for MeHg-induced changes in adult neuronal function, when their exposure occurred primarily during fetal development, are not yet un...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Yuan, Xiaoyang, Wang, Jing, Chan, Hing Man
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30308979
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics6040061
_version_ 1783384362325114880
author Yuan, Xiaoyang
Wang, Jing
Chan, Hing Man
author_facet Yuan, Xiaoyang
Wang, Jing
Chan, Hing Man
author_sort Yuan, Xiaoyang
collection PubMed
description Methylmercury (MeHg) is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant that is known to be neurotoxic, particularly during fetal development. However, the mechanisms responsible for MeHg-induced changes in adult neuronal function, when their exposure occurred primarily during fetal development, are not yet understood. We hypothesized that fetal MeHg exposure could affect neural precursor development leading to long-term neurotoxic effects. Primary cortical precursor cultures obtained from embryonic day 12 were exposed to 0 µM, 0.25 µM, 0.5 µM, 2.5 µM, and 5 µM MeHg for 48 or 72 h. All of the concentrations tested in the study did not affect cell viability. Intriguingly, we observed that cortical precursor exposed to 0.25 µM MeHg showed increased neuronal differentiation, while its proliferation was inhibited. Reduced neuronal differentiation, however, was observed in the higher dose groups. Our results suggest that micromolar MeHg exposure may deplete the pool of neural precursors by increasing premature neuronal differentiation, which can lead to long-term neurological effects in adulthood as opposed to the higher MeHg doses that cause more immediate toxicity during infant development.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6315723
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-63157232019-01-11 Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation Yuan, Xiaoyang Wang, Jing Chan, Hing Man Toxics Article Methylmercury (MeHg) is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant that is known to be neurotoxic, particularly during fetal development. However, the mechanisms responsible for MeHg-induced changes in adult neuronal function, when their exposure occurred primarily during fetal development, are not yet understood. We hypothesized that fetal MeHg exposure could affect neural precursor development leading to long-term neurotoxic effects. Primary cortical precursor cultures obtained from embryonic day 12 were exposed to 0 µM, 0.25 µM, 0.5 µM, 2.5 µM, and 5 µM MeHg for 48 or 72 h. All of the concentrations tested in the study did not affect cell viability. Intriguingly, we observed that cortical precursor exposed to 0.25 µM MeHg showed increased neuronal differentiation, while its proliferation was inhibited. Reduced neuronal differentiation, however, was observed in the higher dose groups. Our results suggest that micromolar MeHg exposure may deplete the pool of neural precursors by increasing premature neuronal differentiation, which can lead to long-term neurological effects in adulthood as opposed to the higher MeHg doses that cause more immediate toxicity during infant development. MDPI 2018-10-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6315723/ /pubmed/30308979 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics6040061 Text en © 2018 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Yuan, Xiaoyang
Wang, Jing
Chan, Hing Man
Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation
title Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation
title_full Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation
title_fullStr Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation
title_full_unstemmed Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation
title_short Sub-Micromolar Methylmercury Exposure Promotes Premature Differentiation of Murine Embryonic Neural Precursor at the Expense of Their Proliferation
title_sort sub-micromolar methylmercury exposure promotes premature differentiation of murine embryonic neural precursor at the expense of their proliferation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30308979
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics6040061
work_keys_str_mv AT yuanxiaoyang submicromolarmethylmercuryexposurepromotesprematuredifferentiationofmurineembryonicneuralprecursorattheexpenseoftheirproliferation
AT wangjing submicromolarmethylmercuryexposurepromotesprematuredifferentiationofmurineembryonicneuralprecursorattheexpenseoftheirproliferation
AT chanhingman submicromolarmethylmercuryexposurepromotesprematuredifferentiationofmurineembryonicneuralprecursorattheexpenseoftheirproliferation