Effect of Combined Prenatal and Adult Benzophenone-3 Dermal Exposure on Factors Regulating Neurodegenerative Processes, Blood Hormone Levels, and Hematological Parameters in Female Rats

Benzophenone-3 (BP-3), the most widely used UV chemical filter, is absorbed well through the skin and gastrointestinal tract and can affect some body functions, including the survival of nerve cells. Previously, we showed that BP-3 evoked a neurotoxic effect in male rats, but since the effects of this compound are known to depend on gender, the aim of the present study was to show the concentration and potential neurotoxic action of this compound in the female rat brain. BP-3 was administered dermally to female rats during pregnancy, and then in the 7th and 8th weeks of age to their female offspring. The effect of BP-3 exposure on short-term and spatial memory, its concentrations in blood, the liver, the frontal cortex, and the hippocampus, and the effect on selected markers of brain damage were determined. Also, the impact of BP-3 on sex and thyroid hormone levels in blood and hematological parameters was examined. It has been found that this compound was present in blood and brain structures in females at a lower concentration than in males. BP-3 in both examined brain structures increased extracellular glutamate concentration and enhanced lipid peroxidation, but did not induce the apoptotic process. The tested compound also evoked hyperthyroidism and decreased the blood progesterone level and the number of erythrocytes. The presented data indicated that, after the same exposure to BP-3, this compound was at a lower concentration in the female brain than in that of the males. Although BP-3 did not induce apoptosis in the hippocampus and frontal cortex, the increased extracellular glutamate concentration and lipid peroxidation, as well as impaired spatial memory, suggested that this compound also had adverse effects in the female brain yet was weaker than in males. In contrast to the weaker effects of the BP-3 on females than the brain of males, this compound affected the endocrine system and evoked a disturbance in hematological parameters more strongly than in male rats.