Recent toxicological studies have demonstrated that exposure to organochlorine pesticides is susceptible to produce various alterations in brain cell which sig- nificantly contribute to a loss in neurobehavioral skills and disturbance of neuronal function. Acetamipride (AC) is belonging to this organochlorines family and it is considered less harmful by toxicovigilance systems and practices in Algeria. The aim of this work was mainly to evaluate the impact of this pesticide on the brain cell integrity and function in Acetamiprid-treated rats at the dose of 3.14 mg/kg (1/60 Lethal Dose) daily during 3 months. Several indicators of neuronal apop- tosis and function have been rated, in addition to clas- sical labyrinth and Maze tests monitoring to evaluate learning and memorization abilities in rats exposed to this neonicotinoid. The results of this study have shown significant enhancing of cytochrome-c (p≤0.01) and Caspase-3 (p≤0.001) activities in brain lysates of treated group that is correlated with induction of apop- tosis. At the same time, assessment of neurotrans- mitters brain cells has recorded a significant increase (p≤0.01) in adrenaline rate and a significant decrease in cerebral level of dopamine (p≤ 0.01), serotonin (p≤0.001) and Acetylcholin esterase in the same group comparing to control. Furthermore, neurobehavioral study has shown a strong correlation between the unbalance observed in neurotransmitters homeostasis and the significant (p≤0.01) loss of learning, memori- zation and locomotive potential as demonstrated by the increase in arrival time (S) (10.33±3.14) versus (3.33±2.05) in control. In conclusion, exposition of the rats to Acetamiprid generates apoptosis which is induced by releasing of mitochondrial Cytochrome-c in cell cytosol and alters neurotransmitters rates that could reduce the potential of learning and memoriza- tion in the rats. Keywords: Acetamiprid, Apoptosis, Neurotransmitters, Neurobehavior, Learning, Memorization Introduction Environmental factors have been shown to contrib- ute to the incidence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. Pesticides, which represent one of the primary classes of environmental agents associated with PD, share the common feature of being intentionally released into the environment to control or eliminate pests in order to protect cultures or vegetal products. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is char- acterized by progressive loss of dopamine neurons in the substantianigra, a loss of dopamine input to the striatum, increasing of cytoplasmic ubiquitin such as a marker of proteins degradation by ubiquitin-protea- some pathway 1,2 . Exposure to environmental contami- nants, such as organochlorine insecticides during criti- cal periods of neurodevelopment has been shown to be a major contributor to several neuropsychological deficits seen in children, adolescence and adults 2 . Although the neurobehavioral outcomes resulting from exposure to these compounds are known and so documented in data base, but, the neurotransmitter cir- cuitry and molecular targets that mediate these end- points have not been nevertheless identified 3,4 . Among the impact of contaminants generally and particularly insecticides at the cell level, is a necrosis and/or apop- Salim Gasmi 1 , Smail Chafaa 2 , Zhora Lakroun 3 , Rachid Rouabhi 1 , Chouaib Touahria 4 , Mohamed Kebieche 2, * & Rachid Soulimani 5 1 Laboratory of Toxicology, University of Tebessa, 12002, Tebessa, Algeria 2 University of Batna2, Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences, Fesdis, Batna, 5000, Algeria 3 Laboratory of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Jijel, 18000, Jijel, 18000, Algeria 4 Departement of Biology, University of Annaba, 23000, Annaba, Algeria 5 Université de Lorraine, Unité UR AFPA, EA3998, INRA USC 0340, MRCA, NAB, BP 4102, 57040 Metz, University de Lorraine, France Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M. Kebieche (kebiechem2016@gmail.com) & S. Gasmi (Salim.gasmi@univ-tebessa.dz) Received 16 January 2019 / Received in revised form 30 June 2019 Accepted 29 August 2019 DOI 10.1007/s13530-019-0417-1 ©The Korean Society of Environmental Risk Assessment and Health Science and Springer 2019 pISSN : 2005-9752 / eISSN : 2233-7784 Toxicol. Environ. Health. Sci. Vol. 11(4), 305-311, 2019 Abstract Neuronal Apoptosis and Imbalance of Neurotransmitters Induced by Acetamiprid in Rats