Prenatal Paraquat exposure induces neurobehavioral and cognitive changes in mice offspring

•Paraquat induces a delay in innate reflexes of prenatally exposed offspring.•Paraquat exposure of dams causes a deficit in the motor development of offspring.•Prenatally exposed mice to paraquat showed pronounced cognitive impairment.•Prenatally exposed mice to paraquat increases glial proliferation in hippocampus.•Prenatally exposed mice to paraquat decreases DA the content in Substantia nigra.

In the present work, we investigated developmental toxicity of Paraquat (PQ), from the 1 st or 6th day of mating and throughout the gestation period. We have examined several parameters, including toxicity indices, reproductive performance, sensorimotor development, as well as anxiety and cognitive performance of the offspring.Our results showed that exposure to 20 mg/kg of Paraquat during the first days of pregnancy completely prevents pregnancy in treated mice, but from the 6th day of pregnancy, an alteration in fertility and reproductive parameters was observed. In offspring, the PQ was responsible for an overall delay of innate reflexes and a deficit in motor development. All exposed animals showed a decrease in the level of locomotor activity, increased levels of anxiety-like behavior and pronounced cognitive impairment in adulthood.These results demonstrated that Paraquat led to the onset of many behavioral changes that stem from the impairment of neuronal developmental processes in prenatally exposed mice.