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International Journal of Toxicology Jun 2024Organophosphate pesticides are widely used; however, their use is limited due to neurotoxicity and, to a lesser extent, cardiotoxicity in humans. Given the high energy...
Organophosphate pesticides are widely used; however, their use is limited due to neurotoxicity and, to a lesser extent, cardiotoxicity in humans. Given the high energy demands of cardiac muscle, which is characterized by a dense population of mitochondria, any damage to these organelles can exacerbate cardiotoxicity. This study aims to elucidate whether the cardiotoxic effects of organophosphate pesticides originate from mitochondrial dysfunction. To investigate this, toxicogenomic analyses were performed using various tools, such as the Comparative Toxicogenomic Database, GeneMANIA, STRING, and Cytoscape. Results revealed that 11 out of the 13 WHO-recommended Class Ia organophosphate pesticides target genes associated with cardiotoxicity. Notably, three of these genes were mitochondrial, with catalase (CAT) being the common differentially expressed gene among parathion, methyl parathion, and phorate. Furthermore, protein-protein interaction analysis indicated a strong association between CAT and superoxide dismutase 2, mitochondrial (SOD2). Subsequently, isolated heart mitochondria were utilized to assess CAT and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities . The findings demonstrated that at a concentration of 7.5 ng/µL, both methyl parathion and phorate significantly decreased CAT activity by approximately 35%. Moreover, phorate reduced total SOD and SOD2 activities by 17% and 19%, respectively, at the same concentration. In contrast, none of the three organophosphate pesticides induced the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore. These results suggest that the reduction in CAT and SOD2 activities, critical antioxidant enzymes, leads to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species within mitochondria, ultimately resulting in mitochondrial damage. This mechanism likely underlies the observed cardiotoxicity induced by these organophosphate pesticides.
PubMed: 38897602
DOI: 10.1177/10915818241261624 -
Environmental Analysis, Health and... Mar 2024Developing countries like Nigeria are increasingly employing pesticides to boost the productivity of their agriculture and food supply, despite the fact that doing so...
Developing countries like Nigeria are increasingly employing pesticides to boost the productivity of their agriculture and food supply, despite the fact that doing so poses a health risk to the general populace. The purpose of this study was to assess pesticide residue levels in Lagos, Nigeria. A total of 18 samples from three neighbourhood markets were collected, and they were then examined for the presence of organochlorine (Endosulfan I, Pentachlorophenol, Heptachlor epoxide, and Endosulfan II) and organophosphate (Dichlorvos, Dimethoate, Phorate, and methyl parathion) residues. During the pre-treatment, the multi-residue Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS citrate) method with the addition of acetonitrile was used, and then samples were analysed using GC-MS. All of the samples contained dichlorvos, but the orange sample's concentration was below the limit of quantification, making quantification impossible. Dimethoate concentrations were below MRLs except waterleaf sample. With a concentration of 0.043 μg/mL, Waterleaf had the highest quantity of dimethoate in the sample. The findings of this study indicate that in order to safeguard the health of consumers, it is necessary to closely monitor organochlorine and organophosphate use nationwide, along with other related pesticides, and to test for pesticide residues in food products.
PubMed: 38631394
DOI: 10.5620/eaht.2024002 -
Water Research Jun 2024Constructed wetlands (CWs) are widely used in sewage treatment in rural areas, but there are only a few studies on field-scale CWs in treating wastewater-borne...
Constructed wetlands (CWs) are widely used in sewage treatment in rural areas, but there are only a few studies on field-scale CWs in treating wastewater-borne pesticides. In this study, the treatment and metabolic transformation of 29 pesticides in rural domestic sewage by 10 field-scale horizontal flow CWs (HF-CWs), each with a treatment scale of 36‒5000 m/d and operated for 2‒10 years, in Guangzhou, Southern China was investigated. The risk of pesticides in treated effluent and main factors influencing such risk were evaluated. Results demonstrated that HF-CWs could remove pesticides in sewage and reduce their ecological risk in effluent, but the degree varied among types of pesticides. Herbicides had the highest mean removal rate (67.35 %) followed by insecticides (60.13 %), and the least was fungicides (53.22 %). In terms of single pesticide compounds, the mean removal rate of butachlor was the highest (73.32 %), then acetochlor (69.41 %), atrazine (68.28 %), metolachlor (58.40 %), and oxadixyl (53.28 %). The overall removal rates of targeted pesticides in each HF-CWs ranged from 11 %‒57 %, excluding two HF-CWs showing increases in pesticides in treated effluent. Residues of malathion, phorate, and endosulfan in effluent had high-risks (RQ > 5). The pesticide concentration in effluent was mainly affected by that in influent (P = 0.042), and source control was the key to reducing risk. The main metabolic pathways of pesticide in HF-CWs were oxidation, with hydroxyl group to carbonyl group or to form sulfones, the second pathways by hydrolysis, aerobic condition was conducive to the transformation of pesticides. Sulfones were generally more toxic than the metabolites produced by hydrolytic pathways. The present study provides a reference on pesticides for the purification performance improvement, long-term maintenance, and practical sustainable application of field-scale HF-CWs.
Topics: Wetlands; Pesticides; Wastewater; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Risk Assessment; Waste Disposal, Fluid; China
PubMed: 38593607
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121568 -
Stress Biology Feb 2024Organophosphate compounds are widely used in agricultural activities to optimize food production. Contamination of field soil by these compounds may result in...
Organophosphate compounds are widely used in agricultural activities to optimize food production. Contamination of field soil by these compounds may result in detrimental effects on soil biota. The aim of the present study was to isolate microorganisms from field soils and evaluate the strains on ability to degrade organophosphates as single isolate and as a consortium. Isolated strains were identified using both biochemical and molecular techniques. Results revealed that, out of the 46 isolated strains, three isolates herein referred to as S6, S36 and S37 showed an average diazinon degradation rate of 76.4%, 76.7% and 76.8% respectively, of the initial dose (50 ppm) within 11 days of incubation in mineral medium. Notably, isolates S36 and S37 were more effective than S6 in degrading diazinon by 40% in soil aliquot after 11 days and therefore were evaluated on biochemical reactions and molecular identification. The isolates showed variable biochemical characteristics. However, both isolates possessed catalase enzyme, but lacked oxidase enzyme. Molecular characterization showed that, the closest species for S36 and S37 were Priestia megaterium and P. arybattia, respectively, based on 16S rRNA gene similarity (> 99%). Combination of the strains increased diazinon degradation ability by 45% compared to single strain treatment. Chlorpyrifos was the most highly degraded organophosphate, compared to phorate and cadusafos. Therefore it is expected that the pesticide-degrading bacteria could be a solution to soil health improvement and contribution to the production of safe agricultural products.
PubMed: 38319394
DOI: 10.1007/s44154-023-00138-6 -
Chemosphere Dec 2023Soil moisture, organic matter, and soil microbes are the key considering factors that control the persistence, degradation, and transformation of applied pesticides...
Soil moisture, organic matter, and soil microbes are the key considering factors that control the persistence, degradation, and transformation of applied pesticides under varied soil conditions. In this study, underlying influence of these factors was assessed through the fates and metabolic transformation of two non-ionic pesticides (e.g., Phorate and Terbufos) in soils. Concisely, two distinct experiments including a customized batch equilibrium (sorption study), and a lab incubation trial (degradation study) were performed, following the OECD guidelines. As per study findings, biochar (BC) amendment was found to be the most influential factors during sorption study, particularly, 1% BC amendment contributed to achieve the best results. In addition, the non-linearity of sorption isotherm (1/n < 1.0) was revealed through Freundlich isotherm, indicating the strong adsorption of studied pesticides onto the soils. On the other hand, during degradation study, soil moisture initiates the enhanced degradation of parent pesticides and subsequent metabolism. In the presence of 40% water holding capacity (WHC), 1% BC amendment enhances the metabolic transformation, while HO treatment could hinder the process. Additionally, the half-life degradation (t) of phorate and terbufos was controlled by biochar amendment, moisture, and soil sterilization, respectively. Finally, BC can accelerate the metabolic transformation, whereas, phorate underwent a metabolic change into sulfoxide and sulfone while terbufos turned into solely sulfoxide. This pioneering study gathered crucial data for understanding the persistence and metabolic transition of non-ionic pesticides in soils and their patterns of degradation.
Topics: Pesticides; Soil; Phorate; Hydrogen Peroxide; Charcoal; Sulfoxides; Soil Pollutants; Adsorption
PubMed: 37844696
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140458 -
Microorganisms Jul 2023Eighteen pesticide-degrading endophytic bacteria were isolated from the roots, stems, and leaves of healthy rice plants and identified through 16S rRNA gene sequencing....
Characterization of Growth-Promoting Activities of Consortia of Chlorpyrifos Mineralizing Endophytic Bacteria Naturally Harboring in Rice Plants-A Potential Bio-Stimulant to Develop a Safe and Sustainable Agriculture.
Eighteen pesticide-degrading endophytic bacteria were isolated from the roots, stems, and leaves of healthy rice plants and identified through 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Furthermore, biochemical properties, including enzyme production, dye degradation, anti-bacterial activities, plant-growth-promoting traits, including N-fixation, P-solubilization, auxin production, and ACC-deaminase activities of these naturally occurring endophytic bacteria along with their four consortia, were characterized. HSTU-ABk39 and sp. HSTU-ABk36 displayed inhibition zones of 41.5 ± 1.5 mm, and 29 ± 09 mm against multidrug-resistant human pathogenic bacteria and , respectively. FT-IR analysis revealed that all eighteen isolates were able to degrade chlorpyrifos Our study confirms that pesticide-degrading endophytic bacteria from rice plants play a key role in enhancing plant growth. Notably, rice plants grown in pots containing reduced urea (30%) mixed with either endophytic bacterial consortium-1, consortium-2, consortium-3, or consortia-4 demonstrated an increase of 17.3%, 38.6%, 18.2%, and 39.1% yields, respectively, compared to the control plants grown in pots containing 100% fertilizer. GC-MS/MS analysis confirmed that consortia treatment caused the degradation of chlorpyrifos into different non-toxic metabolites, including 2-Hydroxy-3,5,6 trichloropyridine, Diethyl methane phosphonate, Phorate sulfoxide, and Carbonochloridic. Thus, these isolates could be deployed as bio-stimulants to improve crop production by creating a sustainable biological system.
PubMed: 37512993
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11071821 -
Biosensors May 2023It is still challenging to achieve simultaneous and sensitive detection of multiple organophosphorus pesticides (OPs). Herein, we optimized the ssDNA templates for the...
It is still challenging to achieve simultaneous and sensitive detection of multiple organophosphorus pesticides (OPs). Herein, we optimized the ssDNA templates for the synthesis of silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs). For the first time, we found that the fluorescence intensity of T base-extended DNA-templated Ag NCs was over three times higher than the original C-riched DNA-templated Ag NCs. Moreover, a "turn-off" fluorescence sensor based on the brightest DNA-Ag NCs was constructed for the sensitive detection of dimethoate, ethion and phorate. Under strong alkaline conditions, the P-S bonds in three pesticides were broken, and the corresponding hydrolysates were obtained. The sulfhydryl groups in the hydrolyzed products formed Ag-S bonds with the silver atoms on the surface of Ag NCs, which resulted in the aggregation of Ag NCs, following the fluorescence quenching. The fluorescence sensor showed that the linear ranges were 0.1-4 ng/mL for dimethoate with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.05 ng/mL, 0.3-2 µg/mL for ethion with a LOD of 30 ng/mL, and 0.03-0.25 µg/mL for phorate with a LOD of 3 ng/mL. Moreover, the developed method was successfully applied to the detection of dimethoate, ethion and phorate in lake water samples, indicating a potential application in OP detection.
Topics: Silver; Organophosphorus Compounds; Pesticides; Fluorescence; Dimethoate; Phorate; Metal Nanoparticles; DNA; Spectrometry, Fluorescence
PubMed: 37232881
DOI: 10.3390/bios13050520 -
Bioelectrochemistry (Amsterdam,... Apr 2023It is highly advantageous to devise an in vitro platform that can predict the complexity of an in vivo system. The first step of this process is the identification of a...
It is highly advantageous to devise an in vitro platform that can predict the complexity of an in vivo system. The first step of this process is the identification of a xenobiotic whose monooxygenation is carried out by two sequential enzymatic reactions. Pesticides are a good model for this type of tandem reactions since in specific cases they are initially metabolised by human flavin-containing monooxygenase 1 (hFMO1), followed by cytochrome P450 (CYP). To assess the feasibility of such an in vitro platform, hFMO1 is immobilised on glassy carbon electrodes modified with graphene oxide (GO) and cationic surfactant didecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB). UV-vis, contact angle and AFM measurements support the effective decoration of the GO sheets by DDAB which appear as 3 nm thick structures. hFMO1 activity on the bioelectrode versus three pesticides; fenthion, methiocarb and phorate, lead to the expected sulfoxide products with K values of 29.5 ± 5.1, 38.4 ± 7.5, 29.6 ± 4.1 µM, respectively. Moreover, phorate is subsequently tested in a tandem system with hFMO1 and CYP3A4 resulting in both phorate sulfoxide as well as phoratoxon sulfoxide. The data demonstrate the feasibility of using bioelectrochemical platforms to mimic the complex metabolic reactions of xenobiotics within the human body.
Topics: Humans; Phorate; Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A; Pesticides; Sulfoxides
PubMed: 36446195
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2022.108327 -
Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2022Phorate is a systemic, broad-spectrum organophosphorus insecticide. Although it is commonly used worldwide, phorate, like other pesticides, not only causes environmental...
Phorate is a systemic, broad-spectrum organophosphorus insecticide. Although it is commonly used worldwide, phorate, like other pesticides, not only causes environmental pollution but also poses serious threats to human and animal health. Herein, we measured the blood glucose concentrations of high-fat-diet-fed mice exposed to various concentrations of phorate (0, 0.005, 0.05, or 0.5 mg/kg); we also assessed the blood glucose concentrations of high-fat-diet-fed mice exposed to phorate; we also assessed the distribution characteristics of the resistance genes in the intestinal microbiota of these mice. We found that 0.005 and 0.5 mg/kg of phorate induced obvious hyperglycaemia in the high-fat-diet-fed mice. Exposure to phorate markedly reduced the abundance of in the mouse intestine. The resistance genes , and were significantly upregulated in the test group compared with the control group. Efflux pumping was the primary mechanism of drug resistance in the , and found in the mouse intestine. Our findings indicate that changes in the abundance of the intestinal microbiota are closely related to the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the intestinal tract and the metabolic health of the host.
PubMed: 36358236
DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics11111584 -
Journal of Economic Entomology Dec 2022Wireworms are primary pests of potatoes in Canada. Presently, the highly toxic organophosphate phorate (i.e., Thimet 20G) is the only effective insecticide in use in...
Wireworms are primary pests of potatoes in Canada. Presently, the highly toxic organophosphate phorate (i.e., Thimet 20G) is the only effective insecticide in use in Canada. As such, there is an urgent need for novel alternative treatments that provide competitive tuber blemish protection and wireworm reduction with a safer human and environmental portfolio. Herein we evaluated broflanilide, a novel meta-diamide insecticide for both tuber protection and wireworm mortality. When evaluated in field trials in Agassiz, British Columbia over 6 yr, broflanilide applied as a seed piece treatment (SPT) to mother tubers at 1.5-2.0 g AI/100 kg seed (approx. 50 g AI/ha), or as an in-furrow spray (IFS) at 0.23-0.25 g AI/100 m row (approx. 25 g AI/ha) was as effective at reducing blemishes to daughter tubers by wireworms (Agriotes obscurus) as phorate (Thimet 20G at 3230 g AI/ha), bifenthrin (Capture 2EC IFS at 300 g AI/ha) and clothianidin (Titan ST at 312.5 g AI/ha). In addition, broflanilide SPT and IFS applied at the above rates reduced resident wireworms (in the field at the time of planting) by 95.4-99.0% and neonate wireworms (produced from eggs laid during the growing season) by 98.1-100%. Similar results were obtained when broflanilide IFS (nonsystemic) was paired with clothianidin SPT (systemic) for broad-spectrum potato insect pest control. Strategies for the use of broflanilide on wheat (e.g., Teraxxa F4) in rotation with potatoes (Cimegra), both registered in Canada in 2020 are discussed.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Insecticides; Solanum tuberosum; Diamide; Phorate; Coleoptera; British Columbia
PubMed: 36222544
DOI: 10.1093/jee/toac152