Evaluating neonatal reflexes in mice exposed to benzo[a]pyrene during early brain development

2020 Celebration of Student Research and Creativity presentationBenzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a pollutant and a known carcinogen. Exposure from BaP can come from vehicle emissions, tobacco smoke, and grilled food. Pregnant mice were dosed with BaP or corn oil on small pieces of cereal from gestational day 10 to weaning at postnatal day 25. We tested neonatal reflexes using the righting reflex test at P5, 7 and 10. We also used the negative geotaxis test at P7, 10, and 14. We compared three genotypes of mice to determine if genetic differences affected susceptibility. We found that both treatment and genotype affected performance on the tests.https://youtu.be/k7Ezn5im08