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Sharma et al. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2017;4:33-45 Neuroimmunology and
DOI: 10.20517/2347-8659.2016.38
Neuroinflammation

www.nnjournal.net
Original Article Open Access

Prenatal zinc supplementation to

lipopolysaccharide infected female rats

prevents neurochemical, behavioral and

biochemical deficits produced in infants

Neha Sharma, Palvi Arora, Bimla Nehru

Department of Biophysics, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
Correspondence to: Dr. Neha Sharma, Department of Biophysics, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India. E-mail: jaitly_neha@rediffmail.com

How to cite this article: Sharma N, Arora P, Nehru B. Prenatal zinc supplementation to lipopolysaccharide infected female rats prevents
neurochemical, behavioral and biochemical deficits produced in infants. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2017;4:33-45.
ABSTRACT
Article history: Aim: Recent research revealed an association between maternal infection i.e.
Received: 29-07-2016 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure during pregnancy and increased risk for central nervous
Accepted: 13-02-2017 system disorders being passed onto the off-spring. Therefore, the present study was designed
Published: 21-03-2017 to investigate the effect of LPS infection during d14-17 of pregnancy (equivalent to third
trimester in humans) on neurochemical, neurobehavioral abnormalities, biochemical as well
Key words: as histopathological parameters in male/female pups. Also, the effect of zinc supplementation
Neuroinflammation, throughout pregnancy to female rats in ameliorating LPS induced neurodegenerative effects
lipopolysaccharide, caused in pups were evaluated. Methods: Pregnant female rats were administered single dose
motor dysfunction, of LPS (200 µg/kg) intraperitoneal on d14-17 of their pregnancy. Zinc supplementation was
cognitive decline, given throughout pregnancy (75 mg ZnSO /L) in drinking water. Results: LPS injection
4
oxidative stress, to pregnant female rats significantly altered the levels of neurotransmitters (dopamine,
cytokines, serotonin and norepinephrine) in pups. Also, marked deterioration of motor behavior
zinc sulphate parameters (actophotometer, rotarod) as well as cognitive decline (plus maze and active
avoidance) has been observed in male as well as female pups. Whereas, supplementation
with zinc limited the alterations in behavioral parameters as well as significantly improved
the level of neurotransmitters in prenatally exposed pups of both genders. However, levels
of malondialdehyde and nitric oxide formed as well as antioxidant defense system including
reduced glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase were found to be excessively
compromised in female pups when compared to male pups. Conclusion: Hence, the study
indicated LPS mediated toxicity in prenatally exposed pups is gender specific and zinc
supplementation during pregnancy was found to attenuate LPS induced toxicity in pups.
INTRODUCTION walls in gram-negative bacteria and is widely present in
the digestive tract of humans and animals. As revealed
[1]
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a toxic component of cell by recent studies humans often get exposed to LPS
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