Effects of maternal cadmium administration on development of monoaminergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic systems

The effects of maternal exposure to 10 mg Cd/l (as cadmium acetate) in drinking water during gestation and lactation on the development of monoaminergic and aminoacidergic systems were studied in discrete brain areas of the pups: striatum, cerebral cortex, dorsal hippocampus and basal-medial hypothalamus.Hippocampal levels of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid were significantly reduced in rats exposed to Cd whereas the dopamine content was not significantly affected by Cd. Glutamate concentration decreased in hypothalamus and increased in hippocampus, while gamma-aminobutiric acid content decreased only in cerebral cortex. The present results demonstrate that maternal exposure to 10 mg/l of Cd leads to neurochemical disturbances on serotoninergic and aminoacidergic systems during development.