Ancestral exposure to vinclozolin, a common fungicide, increases risk of stress in great-granddaughters, a new research by The University of Texas at Austin and Washington State University shows.
Vinclozolin is generally used by farmers to treat fruits and vegetables. Researchers conducted the study on rat models. One group of adolescent rats was kept in soft, warm cylinders for six hours a day; this continued for three weeks. After this, the researchers examined the brain chemistry, brain function, gene expression and behavior of the rats during their adulthood.
Their assessment showed that stressed ancestors exposed to vinclozolin had negative effects on their great-granddaughters. They found that stress led to dramatically higher levels of corticosterone (a stress hormone similar to cortisol in humans)in the female mice, higher expression of genes linked to anxiety and more anxious behaviors. However, the team stated that ancestral exposure to only vinclozolin had negligible effect on their progeny. Moreover, no such effects were seen in the male rats whose ancestors were exposed to the fungicide.
According to another research, stress hormones denigrates an area in the brain associated with memory and learning.
"These results should concern us all because we have been exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals for decades and we all go through natural challenges in life," David Crews, the Ashbel Smith Professor of Zoology and Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin and lead author of the study, said in a press release. "Those challenges are now being perceived differently because of this ancestral exposure to environmental contamination."
Crews explained that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in ancestors in fact passes down a change in the way specific genes are expressed over generations. Gene expression is the process by which a cell uses the genetic code to make useful products such as proteins.
Previously Crews and colleagues showed that EDCs can increase the risk of autism, obesity and cardiovascular disease in future generations.
The study was published in the journal Endocrinology.
