Deltamethrin is a widely used insecticide belonging to the class of pyrethroid. Although the neurotoxicity of pyrethroids including deltamethrin is well
established, it is still unclear whether exposure to deltamethrin during neonatal period has any deleterious effect on the survival of the Purkinje cells in the
cerebellum. In the study, we investigated the total number of Purkinje cells in experimental rats exposed to deltamethrin using a stereological method, the
fractionator. Deltamethrin in a dose of 1 mg/kg/day (corresponds to 20% of LD50 ) was administered through oral gavage to male pups from 2nd to 5th postnatal day
(PND). At PND 21 the animals were sacrificed and their cerebelli were removed. The cerebelli were systematically sampled using the fractionator method and
stained with cresyl fast violet. The number of the Purkinje cells was counted for each cerebellum. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the total number of Purkinje cells in the deltamethrin-treated group as compared to the control animals. This suggests that deltamethrin exposure at the current dosage
during the neonatal period do not have any significant effect on the survival of the Purkinje cells in the cerebellum.