Original paper<br>Lasting neuropathological changes in rat brain after intermittent neonatal administration of thimerosal

Mieszko Olczak; Michalina Duszczyk; Pawel Mierzejewski; Teresa Wierzba-Bobrowicz; Maria Dorota Majewska

eISSN: 1509-572x
ISSN: 1641-4640

Folia Neuropathologica

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4/2010
vol. 48

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abstract:

Original paper
Lasting neuropathological changes in rat brain after intermittent neonatal administration of thimerosal

Mieszko Olczak

,

Michalina Duszczyk

,

Pawel Mierzejewski

,

Teresa Wierzba-Bobrowicz

,

Maria Dorota Majewska

Folia Neuropathol 2010; 48 (4): 258-269

Online publish date: 2010/12/17

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Thimerosal, an organomercurial added as a preservative to some vaccines, is a suspected iatrogenic factor, possibly contributing to paediatric neurodevelopmental disorders including autism. We examined the effects of early postnatal administration of thimerosal (four i.m. injections, 12 or 240 g THIM-Hg/kg, on postnatal days 7, 9, 11 and 15) on brain pathology in Wistar rats. Numerous neuropathological changes were observed in young adult rats which were treated postnatally with thimerosal. They included: ischaemic degeneration of neurons and “dark” neurons in the prefrontal and temporal cortex, the hippocampus and the cerebellum, pathological changes of the blood vessels in the temporal cortex, diminished synaptophysin reaction in the hippocampus, atrophy of astroglia in the hippocampus and cerebellum, and positive caspase-3 reaction in Bergmann astroglia. These findings document neurotoxic effects of thimerosal, at doses equivalent to those used in infant vaccines or higher, in developing rat brain, suggesting likely involvement of this mercurial in neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Original paperLasting neuropathological changes in rat brain after intermittent neonatal administration of thimerosal

Mieszko Olczak , Michalina Duszczyk , Pawel Mierzejewski , Teresa Wierzba-Bobrowicz , Maria Dorota Majewska

thimerosal, rat, brain, development, neuropathology

Original paper
Lasting neuropathological changes in rat brain after intermittent neonatal administration of thimerosal

Mieszko Olczak

,

Michalina Duszczyk

,

Pawel Mierzejewski

,

Teresa Wierzba-Bobrowicz

,

Maria Dorota Majewska