University of Colorado releases a report on Understanding Gulf War Syndrome

Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder have made an important step in Understanding Gulf War Syndrome. Neuroscientist Donald Cooper, Ph.D. and his team found that a common organophosphate insecticide used in the Gulf War was capable of changing neuronal activity in a rodent brain region, known as the Locus Coeruleus, a brain region that is critical for attention, anxiety, and addiction. Their paper released in Nature Precedings is the first report
describing how exposure to the toxic metabolite of the insecticide, chlorpyrifos leads to lasting changes in neuronal activity that persist long after exposure.

These researchers have previously shown similar changes in neuronal signaling to be similar to those that follow withdrawal from heroin and morphine and would likely produce similar states of anxiety, discomfort and memory problems.

The paper is available in Nature Precedings and was funded, in part, by the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical center and the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Gulf War Syndrome: A role for organophosphate induced plasticity of locus coeruleus neurons
Jun-li Cao1, Andrew L. Varnell2 & Donald C. Cooper3



Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, China
Center for Neuroscience, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder Colorado
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, Center for Neuroscience, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience,University of Colorado,Boulder
PDF (295.9 KB)
Document Type:
Manuscript
Date:
Received 07 July 2011 21:50 UTC; Posted 08 July 2011
Subjects:
Neuroscience, Pharmacology
Tags:
Chlorpyrifos Gulf War Syndrome Neuroplasticity anxiety neuroscience PESTICIDES Insecticides. Neuro-cloud.net
Abstract:
Gulf War syndrome is a chronic multi-symptom illness that has affected about a quarter of the deployed veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. Exposure to prolonged low-level organophosphate insecticides and other toxic chemicals is now thought to be responsible. Chlorpyrifos was one commonly used insecticide. The metabolite of chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos oxon, is a potent irreversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, much like the nerve agent Sarin. To date, the target brain region(s) most susceptible to the neuroactive effects of chlorpyrifos oxon have yet to be identified. To address this we tested ability of chlorpyrifos oxon to influence neuronal excitability and induce lasting changes in the locus coeruleus, a brain region implicated in anxiety, substance use, attention and emotional response to stress. Here we used an ex vivo rodent model to identify a dramatic effect of chlorpyrifos oxon on locus coeruleus noradrenergic neuronal activity. Prolonged exposure to chlorpyrifos oxon caused acute inhibition and a lasting rebound excitatory state expressed after days of exposure and subsequent withdrawal. Our findings indicate that the locus coeruleus is a brain region vulnerable to chlorpyrifos oxon-induced neuroplastic changes possibly leading to the neurological symptoms affecting veterans of the Gulf War.

Gulf War Syndrome