Neonatal permethrin exposure induces long-term neurodegeneration: role of DNA methylation

Early life environmental exposure to pesticides could play a critical role on the onset in adulthood of some age-related diseases [1-2], and it is the main cause of epigenetic pattern alterations that vary from tissue to tissue and change with aging [3]. Previous studies on rats exposed to low doses of permethrin from 6th to 21st day of life, have shown many adverse effects, in adulthood such as the central and peripheral impairment of redox and immune systems, with a significant increase in plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines [4,5]. Besides, early life exposure to permethrin induces neurodegeneration in adulthood of the striatum characterized by a decrease in Nurr1 gene and protein expression, lower dopamine levels, accelerated dopamine turnover, protein and lipid oxidation together with decreased GSH levels [6,7]. Nurr1, the gene responsible for the development and maintenance of dopaminergic system, was analyzed considering an epigenetic approach devoted to clarify the mechanisms associated with its down-regulation