Abstract
Organophosphate (OP) pesticides such as dichlorvos (DDVP) intoxication has been shown to produce oxidative stress due to the generation of free radicals, which alter the antioxidant defense system in erythrocytes. In this study, the effects of DDVP (1, 10, 100 µM) or DDVP + vitamin C (VC; 10 µM) or vitamin E (VE; 30 µM), on the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities in human erythrocytes were examined in vitro. There were no statistical differences between all groups for 1 µM concentration of DDVP. Treatment with DDVP alone produced an increase in the level of MDA and decreased activities of antioxidant enzymes (P < 0.05). Groups treated with vitamins and DDVP showed protective effects of vitamins against DDVP-induced changes in antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation (LPO) (10 µM). At 100 µM concentration of DDVP vitamins had no effect on DDVP-induced toxicity. The results show that administration of DDVP resulted in the induction of erythrocyte LPO and alterations in antioxidant enzyme activities, suggesting that reactive oxygen species (ROS) may be involved in the toxic effects of DDVP. Also the data show that the plasma level of VC and VE may ameliorate OP-induced oxidative stress by decreasing LPO in erythrocytes at certain doses of OP pesicides.
Highlights
Pesticides are occasionally used indiscriminately in large amounts causing environmental pollution, and are a cause of concern (John et al, 2001)
There were no statistical differences between vitamin C (VC)-treated, VEtreated and VC + vitamin E (VE)-treated cells compared to control cells (Figs. 1-4)
The activities of enzymes were significantly increased in DDVP + VC and DDVP + VE groups compared to the DDVP group (10 μM)
Summary
Pesticides are occasionally used indiscriminately in large amounts causing environmental pollution, and are a cause of concern (John et al, 2001). Environmental pollution by pesticide residues is a major environmental concern due to their extensive use in agriculture and in public health programs (Celik and Suzek, 2009). The uncontrolled use of these insecticides in agriculture and public health operation has increased the scope of ecological imbalance and many non-target organisms have become victims (Celik and Suzek, 2009). Dichlorvos (DDVP) is an OP that has been in use for more than 40 years. It has been evaluated in a wide range of toxicological assays including bioassays for carcinogenicity and mutagenicity (genotoxicity). The genotoxicity evaluations have included a wide range of test systems and endpoints including assays both in vitro and in vivo. Literature cites DDVP toxicity to humans which includes dose-dependent decrease in human erythrocyte cholinesterase activity and sperm motility based on the urinary concentration of dimethyl phosphate, a urine metabolite of DDVP (Okamura et al, 2005)
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