Cell cycle dysregulation on prenatal and postnatal arsenic exposure in skin of Wistar rat neonates

Abstract

This study explores the effects of prenatal and postnatal (until weaning period) arsenic exposure given via pregnant females on Wistar rat neonates. Pregnant female rats were divided in four groups – control, low dose, moderate dose and high dose groups of sodium arsenite exposure during gestation and weaning period. Half of the neonates were sacrificed at day 1 of birth and other half at day 21 of birth. Cell cycle analysis in epidermal keratinocytes using flowcytometer revealed that there was a consistent increase in number of cells in G2/M phase from 0.04% in control group to 0.88%, 1.59% and 2.77% in low, moderate and high dose groups respectively for neonates sacrificed at day-1. Whereas, the increase in number of cells with increasing doses in G2/M phase of neonates sacrificed at day-21 was from 3.44% to 5.1%, 6.82%, and 9.17%. At postnatal day 21, mRNA expression of Cyclin A and B1, p53, Caspases 3, 7 and 9, and Bax were found to be up-regulated. Whereas that of Cyclin E, CDK 1 and 2 and Bcl2 were down regulated consistently in skin tissues of arsenic exposed groups.

Keywords:

• Arsenic
• prenatal
• postnatal
• skin
• cell cycle
• RT-PCR

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under Grant Junior Research Fellowship [file no. 09/149(0759)/2019-EMR-1].

Ethical approval

All experiments were approved and recommended by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC), Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India (UDZ/IAEC/IV/12; Dated: December 18, 2021).

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India.