# Behavioral and Neurological Effects of Developmental Pyrethroid Exposure in Rodents

> **NIH NIH R00** · UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO HEALTH SCI CAMPUS · 2022 · $249,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
Pesticides are biocidal, principally neurotoxic chemicals commonly used in the USA and throughout the world
for agriculture, landscaping, household use, and insect-born disease control. Because many pesticides have
been linked to risk for various neurological disorders, the proper determination of safe exposure levels for each
pesticide is critical to public health. Recent epidemiological studies in our lab and others have linked perinatal
exposure to pyrethroid pesticides with increased risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Our lab has also demonstrated that mice exposed to pyrethroid
concentrations below the EPA “no observable adverse effect” level have alterations in dopamine (DA) release,
storage, and trafficking, as well as an ADHD-related behavioral phenotype. Critically, no existing animal study
has evaluated the impact of pyrethroid exposure on social behaviors relevant to psychiatric disorders like ASD.
There is a critical knowledge gap regarding the full extent of the behavioral and neurophysiological phenotypes
caused by low-dose exposure to pyrethroids and relevant to ADHD and ASD risk.
To address this knowledge gap, we will take advantage of the extraordinary expertise of the Miller lab in
neurotoxicology, as well as my expertise in complex social behavior and the prairie vole, an animal model with
unique social behaviors considered translationally relevant to ASD. We propose to study the effects of
developmental pyrethroid exposure on neurophysiology and behavior in translational animal models relevant to
human psychiatric disorders. In Aim 1, we will determine the behavioral phenotype of pyrethroid-exposed mice
by testing for a broad range of behavioral deficits relevant to ASD, including social interaction, communication,
repetitive behaviors, and the new generation of empathy-based behavioral tests. In Aim 2, we will use a wide
range of morphological, neurochemical and electrophysiological techniques to determine the
neurophysiological changes in DA storage and release in pyrethroid-exposed mice. In Aim 3, I will carry these
same techniques into my independent research program, where I will use them to determine the critical
disruptions in DAT in pyrethroid-exposed mice. In Aim 4, I will more fully develop my independent research
program by determining the behavioral and neurophysiological phenotype of pyrethroid exposed prairie voles,
focusing on alterations in unique social behaviors shared between human and vole, including social bonding,
spontaneous parental care, and empathy-based consoling behavior.
This project is designed to develop a successful long-term research program focused on the contribution of
environmental toxins to risk for psychiatric disease. This will involve a substantial training and career
development program led by primary mentor Dr. Gary Miller, an expert in neurotoxicology; and involving a
mentoring team consisting of D...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10401481
- **Project number:** 5R00ES027869-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO HEALTH SCI CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** James Burkett
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $249,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2023-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10401481

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10401481, Behavioral and Neurological Effects of Developmental Pyrethroid Exposure in Rodents (5R00ES027869-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10401481. Licensed CC0.

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