OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of heroin, a psychotropic substance, on the development of embryonic rats and the expression of Bax in the brain.
Methods: Wistar rats after conception were randomly divided into control group and heroin administration group (divided into low, medium and high-dose heroin groups). On the 7th day, 16, 32 and 64 mg/kg of heroin were administered respectively, and they were administered continuously. Heroin for 9 days, to observe the effect of heroin on the morphological and structural development of embryonic rats, and use enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect the expression level of Bax in embryonic brain tissue.
RESULTS: Embryo observation found that the total number of viable embryos in the heroin low, medium and high dose groups decreased by 27.27%, 37.12% and 48.48% respectively compared with the control group. The embryonic occipital bone and parietal bone in the dose group were hypoplastic, and the embryonic encephalocele was obvious; in the high-dose heroin group, the embryonic occipital bone, parietal bone, and temporal bone were hypoplastic, and the embryonic encephalocele was more obvious. Compared with the control group, the Bax expression level in the tissue increased by 11.41%, 47.06% and 83.74%, respectively, and the difference was significant (P<0.05, P<0.01). The Bax expression level in the embryonic cerebellum increased by 17.16%, 52.96 % and 90.01%, the difference was significant (P<0.05, P<0.01).
CONCLUSION: The mentally dependent heroin can significantly inhibit the morphological and structural development of embryonic rats, and the inhibitory effect increases with the increase of heroin dose. Its mechanism of action may be related to the up-regulation of Bax expression in embryonic tissues and organs induced by heroin.