Effect of Eugenol on Developing Fetal Brain Neurons

Undergraduate #84
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Cell and Molecular Biology

Kiana Ware - Claflin University
Co-Author(s): Syeda Madiha, Claflin University, South Carolina; Dr. Omar Bagasra M.D., Ph.D, Claflin University, South Carolina

Synthetic Eugenol is used in perfumes, flavorings in food and drinks. It is also used in dentistry as restorative and prosthodontic in the form of zinc oxide eugenol. Eugenol is also used as antioxidants for the plastics and rubber industry. Its toxicity is apparent by its use in euthanizing agents to kill diseased and sick fish. Eugenol is hepatic toxic and overdose can cause convulsions, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness and rapid heartbeat. We hypothesize that a pregnant woman who is exposed to Eugenol and it reaches her blood circulation may harm the developing fetal brain. In order to test this hypothesis we utilized two neuroblastoma cell lines that represent developing fetal brain and exposed them to femtomolar concentrations of Eugenol. We analyzed the neural cell lines by morphological methods and evaluated the occurrence of central chromatolysis, changes in axonal length, thickness, degeneration and syncytia formation as compared to controls (unexposed to Eugenol). Our analyses showed that Eugenol exposure induced significant changes in both male and female neuronal cell lines including chromatolysis (P>0.0016), increased axonal length (P>0.0006) and axonal degeneration (0.0001), in male cell line. Similarly, significant central chromatolysis (P.0.0224), increased axonal length (0.04) and axonal degeneration (P>0.05) in female neuronal cell line. We conclude that exposure to even at femtomolar concentration of Eugenol can induce harmful neuromodifications in a developing fetal brain. Furthermore, we observed significantly less effects on female brain cells than in male, perhaps explaining 1:5 male bias in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Not Submitted

Funder Acknowledgement(s): Claflin University Department of Biotechnology HBCU- UP

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Omar Bagasra M.D., Ph.D, obagasra@claflin.edu

Role: I started off culturing cells in order to have enough data to conduct research. I exposed the neuroblastoma cell lines to Eugenol and allowed them to grow in the incubator. I checked the cells every day for growth, death, and any contamination. Once ready, I proceeded to conduct H&E staining in order to review the results. I took pictures and detected the effects by analyzing the cell lines compared to the controls.