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ToxSci Advance Access originally published online on August 13, 2004
Toxicological Sciences 2004 82(1):193-206; doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfh246
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Toxicological Sciences vol. 82 no. 1 © Society of Toxicology 2004; all rights reserved.

Evaluation of Sensory Evoked Potentials in Long Evans Rats Gestationally Exposed to Mercury (Hg0) Vapor

David W. Herr*,1, Sushmita M. Chanda{dagger},{ddagger}, Jaimie E. Graff*, Stanley S. Barone, Jr*, Robert P. Beliles§ and Daniel L. Morgan{ddagger}

* Neurotoxicology Division, MD B105-05, NHEERL, ORD, U.S. E.P.A., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711; {dagger} Roche Palo Alto LLC, Palo Alto, California 94304-1397; {ddagger} Respiratory Toxicology, NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709; and § NCEA, ORD, U.S. E.P.A., Washington, District of Columbia 20460

Received July 2, 2004; accepted July 31, 2004

Mercury is known to alter neuronal function and has been shown to cross the placental barrier. These experiments were undertaken to examine if gestational exposure to mercury vapor (Hg0) would result in alterations in sensory neuronal function in adult offspring. Dams were exposed to 0 or 4 mg/m3 Hg0 for 2 h/day from gestational days 6–15. This exposure paradigm has been shown to approximate a maximal tolerated dose of Hg0 for the dams. Between postnatal days 140–168, male and female offspring (one of each gender/dam) were examined using a battery of sensory evoked potentials. Peripheral nerve action potentials, nerve conduction velocity, somatosensory evoked responses (cortical and cerebellar), brainstem auditory evoked responses, pattern evoked potentials, and flash evoked potentials were quantified. Gestational exposure to 4 mg/m3 Hg0 did not significantly alter any of the evoked responses, although there was a suggestion of a decrease in compound nerve action potential (CNAP) amplitudes in male animals for the 3 mA stimulus condition. However, this possible change in CNAP amplitudes was not replicated in a second experiment. All evoked potentials exhibited predictable changes as the stimulus was modified. This shows conclusively that the evoked responses were under stimulus control, and that the study had sufficient statistical power to detect changes of these magnitudes. These results indicate that gestational exposure to 4 mg/m3 Hg0 did not result in changes in responses evoked from peripheral nerves, or the somatosensory, auditory, or visual modalities.

Key Words: mercury vapor; evoked potentials; sensory toxicity.


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