Pesticides' effect on myelin gene expression in oligodenrocytes

Abstract

Several studies have shown a link between pesticide exposure and neurological problems. In the present study, we show the effect of twenty common pesticides (dieldrin, rotenone, endosulfan, penconazole, trifiuralin, dicofol, chloropropham, hexachlorobenzene, thiamethoxam, dimethoate, maneb, p,p' -DDE, paraquat, permethrin, chlorfenapyr, propanil, kresoxim-methyl, boscalid, triadimefon, lambda-cyhalothrin) on myelin gene expression (PLP and MBP) in oligodendrocytes. We first studied the toxicology of each chemical to determine the doses to consider by calculating the ration of dead to living cells. Then, we treated the oligodendrocytes with the chemicals at the chosen concentrations, extracted RNA and recorded RNA quality. The RNA was then amplified using PCR, then the expression of PLP and MBP was assessed using RT-PCR. We report that seven of the twenty chemicals (dieldrin, endosulfan, penconazole, trifluralin, dicofol, chioropropham, and hexachlorobenzene) cause an over-expression of both genes, five (thiamethoxam, dimethoate, maneb, p,p'-DDE, and paraquat) cause a hypo-expression of both genes, while the remaining eight chemicals cause either no expression of one or both genes or different effects on each gene. These effects represent the ability of low doses of these chemicals to affect myelination in the central nervous system, and thus, affect neural function.