Background  Lead (Pb) exposure impairs cognitive functions of children. Whether Pb exposure in different developmental stages induces long-term cognitive impairment, and whether chelation therapy could mitigate the cognitive impairment is rarely reported.

Objective  This experiment is designed to investigate effects of Pb exposure and chelation therapy during different developmental stages (breastfeeding, weaning, and early puberty periods) on mouse short-term and long-term cognitive functions.

Methods  C57BL/6 male mice in breastfeeding period, weaning period, and early puberty period (postnatal day 2, 21, and 41; PND 2, PND 21, and PND 41, n=30, respectively) were randomly divided into control, Pb exposure, and Pb+dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) treatment groups (n=10 in each group). The control groups received standard food and deionized water. The Pb exposure mice received standard food and free drinking water containing Pb acetate (0.1% for dams, and 0.05% for pups). After receiving Pb acetate for 19 d, the Pb+DMSA treatment groups were given 1 mmol·kg⁻¹·d⁻¹ DMSA for 6 d with gastric infusion. Whole blood Pb levels were measured after DMSA treatment on experimental day 25. The effects on short-term cognitive function were tested in the Morris Water Maze task by the analyses of escape latency on PND 75−79, as well as target quadrant time and times of platform-crossing on PND 80. Hippocampal long-term potentiation of field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) of mice on PND 365 was induced to demonstrate the effects on long-term cognitive function.

Results  The blood Pb levels among the Pb, Pb+DMSA, and control groups were statistically different for each developmental stage (F_{breastfeedingperiod}=43.47, F_{weaningperiod}=228.6, F_{earlyperiod of puberty}=274.2, all P<0.001). Compared to the counterpart control groups, blood Pb levels of the pb exposure groups (386.4, 265.0, and 178.1 μg·L⁻¹ in breastfeeding period, weaning period, and early puberty period, respectively) were significantly higher for all stages. After the chelation therapy, the blood Pb significantly decreased for all stages (28.68, 47.29, and 20.93 μg·L⁻¹ in the three periods, respectively,all P<0.001) and the Pb levels of the mice exposed in the breastfeeding period decreased most (by 92.58%, 82.15%, and 88.25% in the three periods, respectively,P<0.01). In the water maze task, the mice exposed to Pb in the breastfeeding period had a gentler decrease in escape latency (from 54.20 s on day 1 to 30.54 s on day 5, by 43.65 % decrease) than the control group (from 32.44 s on day 1 to 15.20 s on day 5, by 53.14 % decrease) (P<0.01) and a significant decrease in target quadrant time (P<0.05). After the chelation therapy, the escape latency of the DMSA-treated mice in the breastfeeding period (from 40.94 s on day 1 to 20.87 s on day 5, by 48.99 % decrease) was steeper than that of the Pb-exposed mice (P<0.05). The differences in the escape latency, target quadrant time, and times of platform-crossing were not significant between the Pb-exposed mice and the control mice in the weaning period and early period of puberty (allP>0.05). After the chelation therapy, such differences were also not significant compared with before therapy. Due to the small sample size, data were merged for different developmental stages in the long-term potentiation test. The amplitudes of fEPSP induced in the control, Pb-exposed, and DMSA treatment groups were significantly different (F_groups=212.2, F_time=11.36. P<0.001). The average fEPSP amplitude induced in the last 10 min recorded in the hippocampal slices in the Pb exposure group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). After the DMSA treatment, no significant differences were observed in the fEPSP amplitudes between the Pb exposure group and the DMSA treatment group (P>0.05). When observing the fEPSP data by developmental stages, the fEPSP amplitude in the breastfeeding Pb-exposure group was 27.2% lower than that of the breastfeeding control group, while such changes were not obvious in the weaning period or in the early period of puberty. The fEPSP amplitude in breastfeeding DMSA treatment group was 44.3% higher than that of the breastfeeding Pb exposure group, while such changes were not observed in the weaning period or in early period of puberty.

Conclusion  Pb exposure during different developmental stages, especially in breastfeeding period, could affect short-term and long-term cognitive functions of mice. The harmful effects may be partially reversed by DMSA chelation therapy, especially being treated in breastfeeding period.