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Abstract

Epidemiological evidence suggests that pesticide exposure may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, whether maternal exposure to fenvalerate (FV) can affect AD-type behaviors in middle-aged offspring has not been determined yet. In this study, CD-1 mothers received 7.5 mg/kg FV or corn oil by gavage daily during gestational days 8–18. Body weight of the offspring was recorded at ages 4–34 weeks. A battery of behavioral tasks was conducted at 13-month, and 5-month-old mice were set as a young control. The results showed that there was insignificant difference in body weight between the FV-treated and control mice. Compared to the young mice, the middle-aged control mice exhibited decreased burrowing activity, decreased spontaneous exploration and sensorimotor ability, increased anxiety, and impaired abilities of spatial and non-spatial learning and memory. Compared to the controls, the FV-treated mice exhibited similar species-typical behaviors, locomotor activity, sensorimotor abilities, but increased anxiety, and decreased abilities of learning and memory. Our results suggested that chronically maternal exposure to FV at a low dose in medium-late gestation could accelerate the impairment in the behaviors of learning and memory and anxiety in the middle-aged offspring, which experience a normal duration of development.