ABSTRACT
Carbon disulfide (CS2) is a neurotoxic industrial solvent and widely used in the vulcanization of rubber, rayon, cellophane, and adhesives. Although the neurotoxicity of CS2 has been recognized for over a century, the precise mechanism of neurotoxic action of CS2 remains unknown. In the present study, a embryonic rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) explants culture model was established. Using the organotypic DRG cultures, the direct neurotoxic effects of CS2 on outgrowth of neurites and migration of neurons from DRG explants were investigated. The organotypic DRG cultures were exposed to different concentrations of CS2 (0.01 mmol/L, 0.1 mmol/L, 1 mmol/L). The number of nerve fiber bundles extended from DRG explants decreased significantly in the presence of CS2 (0.01 mmol/L, 15.00 ± 2.61, p < .05; 0.1 mmol/L, 11.17 ± 1.47, p < .001; 1 mmol/L, 8.00 ± 1.41, p < .001) as compared with that in the absence of CS2 (17.83 ± 2.48). The number of neurons migrated from DRG explants decreased significantly in the presence of CS2 (0.01 mmol/L, 79.50 ± 9.40, p < .01; 0.1 mmol/L, 62.50 ± 14.15, p < .001; 1 mmol/L, 34.67 ± 7.58, p < .001) as compared with that in the absence of CS2 (99.33 ± 15.16). And also, the decreases in the number of nerve fiber bundles and migrated DRG neurons were in a dose-dependent manner of CS2. These data implicated that CS2 could inhibit neurite outgrowth and neuronal migration from DRG explants in vitro.