Simazine, a triazine herbicide, disrupts swine granulosa cell functions.

Francesca Grasselli,Roberto Ramoni,Stefano Grolli,Simona Bussolati,Giuseppina Basini

doi:10.21451/1984-3143-2017-ar960

Abstract

The triazine herbicide simazine is a pesticide commonly detected in surface and ground waters, although banned in most European countries since 2004. Concerns for humans and animal health result from its potential endocrine disrupting action, that can lead to reproductive disorders. The present in vitro study was undertaken to study simazine effects on swine granulosa cell function, namely cell viability, proliferation, steroidogenesis and NO production. Moreover, the ability of this substance to interfere with the angiogenetic process, a crucial event in reproductive function, was taken into account. Our data document that simazine treatment, at 0.1 or 10 μM concentration levels, stimulates granulosa cell proliferation and viability and impairs steroidogenesis, increasing in particular progesterone production. In addition, the in vitro angiogenesis bioassay revealed a significant simazine stimulatory effect on immortalized porcine Aortic Endothelial Cell proliferation. Collectively, these results show that simazine can display disruptive effects on ovarian cell functional parameters, possibly resulting in reproductive dysfunction. This hypothesis is also supported by the observed pro-angiogenetic properties of this herbicide, as already suggested for different endocrine disruptors.

Highlights

Simazine belongs to the triazine family, a group of chemicals which are widely employed as broad-spectrum herbicides due to their inhibition of electron transfer in photosynthesis (Qian et al, 2014)
Triazines are more soluble in water and they can leach from soils to surface and ground waters; contamination of drinking water can raise concerns both for human and animal health
The model used to study vascular development (Grasselli et al, 2003) was prepared using aortic endothelial cell line (AOC) grown on dextran beads coated by denatured collagen from porcine skin, included in a gelatinous matrix of fibrin

Summary

Introduction

Simazine belongs to the triazine family, a group of chemicals which are widely employed as broad-spectrum herbicides due to their inhibition of electron transfer in photosynthesis (Qian et al, 2014). Owing to their effectiveness, these herbicides have been heavily used in the United States, Europe and Australia for more than 50 years (Breckenridge et al, 2016). Triazines are more soluble in water and they can leach from soils to surface and ground waters; contamination of drinking water can raise concerns both for human and animal health. Simazine represents the second most commonly detected pesticide in surface and ground waters in different regions worldwide (Sai et al, 2015)

Methods

Results

Conclusion