Abstract #4928

Perinatal exposure to phthalate mixtures alters structural and functional networks in mouse brain

Julius Benson^1,2,3, Shreyan Majumdar⁴, Brad Sutton⁴, Howard Gritton^2,3,5,6, and Jozien Goense^3,6,7,8

¹Biophysics Program, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, ²Beckman Institute, Neurotechnology for Memory and Cognition Group, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, ³Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, ⁴Beckman Institute Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, ⁵Neuroscience, Comparative Biosciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, ⁶Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, ⁷Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, ⁸Beckman Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States

Synopsis

Keywords: Small Animals, Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting state), Functional Connectivity, Structural Connectivity

Motivation: Developmental exposure to phthalates has been identified as a risk-factor for autism although the mechanisms are not well understood.

Goal(s): To address this gap, we studied how perinatal phthalate exposure affects brain functional and structural connectivity measured in mice as adults.

Approach: We collected resting state BOLD timeseries and calculated tractography from diffusion-weighted images at 9.4T in CD1 mice.

Results: We found that global and regional brain network connectivity measures differed between mice exposed to phthalate mixtures during development compared to control mice.

Impact: Perinatal phthalate exposure contributes to atypical limbic development visible in fMRI and DTI connectivity. This correlates with autism-relevant social behavior changes which is relevant to understanding how phthalates could contribute to the rise in autism over the last two decades.

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