Gender-dependent and genotype-sensitive monoaminergic changes induced by polychlorinated biphenyl 153 in the rat brain.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are present as ortho- and non-ortho-substituted PCBs, with most of the ortho-substituted congeners being neurotoxic. The present study examined effects of the ortho-substituted PCB 153 on dopamine, serotonin and amino acid neurotransmitters in the neostriatum of both male and female Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) genotypes. PCB 153 exposure at p8, p14 and p20 had no effects on levels of these transmitters when examined at p55, but led to increased levels of both homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, the degradation products of dopamine and serotonin, respectively, in all groups except the female SHR.