YCl3 Promotes Neuronal Cell Death by Inducing Apoptotic Pathways in Rats

The pollutants rare earth elements (REEs) have posed great threats to human health. To investigate the cytotoxicity of yttrium (Y), a model that rats have free access to water containing YCl3 for 6 months is utilized. The results showed that YCl3 treatment promoted neuronal cell apoptosis by upregulating the proapoptotic factors Bax, caspase-3, Cyto c, and DAPK and by downregulating the antiapoptotic factors Bcl-2 and XIAP at both mRNA and protein levels. Conclusively, YCl3 exhibited cytotoxicity and promoted neuronal cell death by the induction of apoptotic pathways.