Ichipi-Ifukor_2024_Biol.Trace.Elem.Res__

Most research has not been done on the possible relationship between pregnant women's cross-metal exposures and postpartum neuroendocrine functions. The purpose of this study was to look into how co-exposure to aluminium chloride (AlCl(3)) and cadmium chloride (CdCl(2)) affected the neuroendocrine and neurometabolic changes in postpartum mice. A total of 24 adult pregnant female mice were used for the study. Group 1 served as control and received neither AlCl(3) nor CdCl(2) (n=6), group 2 comprised pregnant mice treated with AlCl(3) (10mg/kg), group 3 with CdCl(2) (1.5mg/kg), group 4 with a combination of AlCl(3) (10 mg/kg) and CdCl(2) (1.5 mg/kg).Oral treatment of animals was done daily from gestation day 7 to gestation day 20. Upon delivery and weaning on postnatal day 21 (PND 21), behavioural assessment was done on the postpartum mice and immediately followed by sacrifice for assessment of histological and neuroendocrine markers. Our findings revealed that the brain-to-body weight ratio was affected and brain oxidative stress was elevated in mice exposed to AlCl(3) and CdCl(2) during pregnancy. Given the strong association between postpartum hyperactivity, social interaction index, brain catalase and acetylcholinesterase activity, and the brain/body weight ratio, it is plausible that these effects have played a role in the adverse behavioural abnormalities observed in the postpartum maternal mice. Moreover, it was noted that in certain situations, co-exposures to the metals tended to have opposite effects to single metal exposures.