Objective: To discuss the dose-effect of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) on excitatory amino acids (EAAs) and glutamine synthetase (GS) in rat central nerves system.
Methods: 20 mature male Wister rats were categorized into 4 groups randomly, 5 rats every group. Wister rats were treated once by gastric perfusion method with 12.5, 25, 50 mg/kg PFOS and controls received same valume vehicle (2% tween-80) once orally. 5 days after treated, the rats in all groups were sacrificed. The contents of glutamate (Glu), aspartate (Asp), glycine (Gly) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in brain tissues were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Changes in GS in brain tissue were observed GS kit.
Results: The spontaneous motor ability was decreased as compared with the controls. In hippocampus, the content of glutamate (Glu) was significantly decreased at the dose of 50 mg/kg bw (P < 0.05). In cortex, the content of glutamate (Glu) was significantly decreased at the dose of 25 and 50 mg/kg bw (P < 0.05). In hippocampus, increase with the dose of PFOS there was significant difference of GS at 12.5 and 50 mg/kg group compared with corresponding control group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The altered content of amino acid neurotransmitters might be one of the important mechanisms of PFOS neurotoxicity.