Impacts of chronic low-level nicotine exposure on Caenorhabditis elegans reproduction: identification of novel gene targets
Michael A Smith Jr 1, Yanqiong Zhang, Joseph R Polli, Hongmei Wu, Baohong Zhang, Peng Xiao, Mary A Farwell, Xiaoping Pan
Effects and mechanisms of chronic contact with lower levels of nicotine is definitely an area essentially important however less investigated. We employed the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans to research potential impacts of chronic (24h) and occasional nicotine exposure (6.17-194.5 |¨¬M) on stimulus-response, reproduction, and gene expressions. Nicotine considerably affects the organism’s reaction to touch stimulus (p=.031), which follows a serving-dependent pattern. Chronic nicotine exposure promotes early egg-lounging occasions and slightly elevated egg productions throughout the first 72 h of their adult years. The expressions of 10 (egl-10, egl-44, hlh-14, ric-3, unc-103, unc-50, unc-68, sod-1, oxi-1, and old-1) from 18 selected genes were affected considerably. Other tested genes were cat-4, egl-19, egl-47, egl-5, lin-39, unc-43, pink-1, and age-1. Alterations in gene expression were more apparent at low dosages than at relatively high levels. Genes implicated in reproduction, cholinergic signaling, and stress response were controlled by nicotine, suggesting prevalent physiological impacts of nicotine.UNC6852