Objective: Nonylphenol is an alkylphenol compound that has been widely used in the industry. It has endocrine-disrupting properties. The effect of alkylphenol compounds on development has been the subject of a limited number of studies. Herein, we aimed to examine curcumin's effect against nonylphenol toxicity on brain development.
Methods: For this study, 30 pregnant female Wistar albino rats from the Animal Laboratory of Erciyes University, Faculty of Medicine, were used. The rats were randomly divided into the following 5 groups; the control group, corn oil group (150μl/kg/day), nonylphenol group (50μl/kg/day), curcumin group (100mg/kg/day) and curcumin+nonylphenol group (100mg/kg/day+50 μl/kg/day). After the sacrification, histological and immunohistochemical evaluations were made.
Results: Histopathologically, vascular congestion, increased GFAP, and p-tau immunoreactivity intensity was found in the developing brain of the nonylphenol group. Moreover, co-treatment of nonylphenol administrated with curcumin showed slight pathological alterations with vascular congestion.
Conclusions: These data suggest that nonylphenol-induced increase in GFAP and p-tau immunoreactivity contributes to toxicity caused impairment in the rat brain. Additionally, curcumin had a neuroprotective effect against nonylphenol-induced neurotoxicity.
Keywords: Curcumin; GFAP; Nonylphenol; p-tau brain development..