Exposure to inorganic arsenite alters glucose metabolism of pregnant rats.

BONAVENTURA MM; BOURGUIGNON N S; LIBERTUN C; LUX LANTOS V

Houston

Congreso; The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting.; 2012

The Endocrine Society

Inorganic arsenic is a worldwide distributed natural contaminant. The most common source of contamination is from ground water. Inorganic arsenic is highly toxic and a proved carcinogenic in humans. Recently it has also been described as an endocrine disruptor impacting the metabolic and reproductive axes, although the mechanisms have not been elucidated. Female Sprague‐Dawley rats were treated with sodium arsenite in drinking water (5 or 50 ppm in distilled water or distilled water as control) from gestation day 1 (GD1) (confirmed by presence of vaginal sperm plug) to sacrifice (two months post‐partum). Standard chow was given ad libitum. Body weight (BW) was recorded during pregnancy and on GD15‐17, a glucose tolerance test (GTT) was performed. Additionally, dams were evaluated by a GTT one month after weaning. For GTTs, intraperitoneal glucose (2 g/kg BW) was injected to overnight‐fasted rats and blood glucose levels were evaluated at different time points. On postnatal day 1 (PND1), pups were counted, sexed and weighted. Results are expressed as means ± S.E.M. Differences between means were analyzed by one‐way ANOVA or two–way ANOVA with repeated measures design. P