Prenatal low-dose methylmercury exposure causes premature neuronal differentiation and autism-like behaviors in a rodent model.

ABSTRACT: Aberrant neurodevelopment is a core deficit of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here we ask whether a non-genetic factor, prenatal exposure to the environmental pollutant methylmercury (MeHg), is a contributing factor in ASD onset. We showed that adult mice prenatally exposed to non-apoptotic MeHg exhibited key ASD characteristics, including impaired communication, reduced sociability, and increased restrictive repetitive behaviors, whereas in the embryonic cortex, prenatal MeHg exposure caused premature neuronal differentiation. Further single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis disclosed that prenatal exposure to MeHg resulted in cortical radial glial precursors (RGPs) favoring asymmetric differentiation to directly generate cortical neurons, omitting the intermediate progenitor stag

SUBMITTER: Loan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9947313 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature