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Oxidative liver DNA damage in rats treated with pesticide mixtures.

Oxidative damage was quantified in the liver of rats by measuring the levels of 8-OH-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-2DG) relative to 2-deoxyguanosine in DNA after treating rats for 10 days at a total dose of 1 mg/kg/day with a mixture of the 15 pesticides most commonly found in Italian foods (comprised of dithiocarbamate, benomyl, procymidone, methidathion, chlorpyrifos-ethyl, parathion-methyl, chlorpropham, parathion, vinclozolin, chlorfenvinphos, pirimiphos ethyl, thiabendazole, fenarimol, diphenylamine and chlorothalonil). We fractionated this pesticide mixture into subgroups in order to determine which molecules, if any, induced DNA oxidative damage. The administration of diphenylamine (0.09-1.4 mg/kg/day) and chlorothalonil (0.13-1 mg/kg/day) induced a dose-dependent increase in 8-OH-2DG levels in liver DNA. The other 13 pesticides of the mixture on the contrary, did not produce oxidative liver DNA damage. These results indicate that the toxicity of low doses of pesticide mixtures present in food might be further reduced by eliminating diphenylamine and chlorothalonil.

Administration, Oral↗

Pesticides: multiple mechanisms of demasculinization.

Many pesticides are known to produce reproductive and developmental effects in chronically exposed non-target organisms, including humans. Recent evidence suggests that demasculinization may be an important mechanism responsible for some of these effects. Some pesticides have been shown to interact with the androgen receptor and to act as antagonists, while others have been shown to interact with the estrogen receptor and function as estrogens in both in vitro and in vivo. Many pesticides can also lower serum androgen levels by altering rates of synthesis or metabolism. Given the ubiquity of pesticides in the environment and the multiple mechanisms whereby they can elicit demasculinizing effects, synergy between such compounds may produce clinical endocrine dysfunction at current human exposure levels.

Androgen Antagonists↗

Autoimmunity by pesticides: a critical review of the state of the science.

The goals of this paper will be to present a critical review of the state of the science of pesticides and autoimmunity, and to discuss research that addresses the potential links between environmental chemicals and autoimmune disease. To date, the science of immunotoxicology has primarily focused on immunosuppression and hypersensitivity/allergy, and test methods are available to address these outcomes. So much progress has been made to address immunosuppression and contact sensitization that there are regulatory guidelines in the U.S. included in the registration of pesticides. In contrast, there are no validated approaches to assess autoimmunity. The overall objective of this paper will be to use pesticides as an important class of environmental chemicals to critically evaluate the state of the science for addressing chemical-induced autoimmunity. Specific examples of studies with pesticides will be discussed in the context of the following types of approaches: animal studies using standard immunotoxicological parameters; animal studies using specialized models of autoimmunity; human studies after environmental or occupational exposure; and human studies after accidental poisoning.

Animals↗

Pesticide monitoring and its health problems in Egypt, a Third World country.

Health profiles for 300 pesticide formulators and 300 pesticide applicators revealed peripheral neuritis (> 40%), psychiatric manifestations (> 40%), electroencephalographic (EEG) changes (> 25%), and hepatorenal dysfunction (> 80%); all these manifestations were confirmed by different diagnostic tools. The frequency of carrier state of hepatitis (HbsAg) was 7.4% and of transitory state was 21.5%. The cytogenetic changes were confirmed by measuring chromosomal aberrations (CAs) among formulators and applicators, and proved to be more than twice those of controls. Pesticides residues among 130 milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt and milk powder samples (DDT, HCH and Dieldrin) were confirmed. Registration schemes, and post-registration programs (monitoring requirements, training needs and control of pesticide and fertilizer imports) should be mandatory.

Adult↗

Risk assessment of pollution with pesticides in food in the Eastern Romania area (1996-1997).

The extensive use of pesticides in agriculture can entail risks for environment and non-target organisms. Hence the need to assess the nature and degree of the risk and at the same time to take preventive measures aimed at minimizing possible damages. The aim of the present study was to investigate the pesticide residues in food and the human body (maternal, young) in the Eastern Romania area, between 1996 and 1997. The organochlorine pesticide residues were analyzed using gas-chromatographic method. DDT-total and HCH-total were determined in 'food' (milk, bread, diets, coffee) sampled in the Eastern Romania area; 'maternal body' (placenta, milk, urine) and 'young body' (serum, urine) from the Iassy district. These pollutants present in all analyzed products involve the necessity of the pollution reduction by a rational use of the pesticides and the continuation of the chemical pollutants determination in the environment elements for cancer prevention and the control of the exposure to environmental carcinogens and their effects.

Adolescent↗

Risk assessment and management of occupational exposure to pesticides.

Occupational exposure to pesticides in agriculture and public health applications may cause acute and long-term health effects. Prevention of adverse effects in the users requires actions to be undertaken in the pre-marketing and post-marketing phase of these products. The pre-marketing preventive actions are primary responsibility of industry and the public administration. Admission of pesticide use (registration) is carried out by considering the toxicological properties of each pesticide (hazard identification), determining the dose-response relationship (NOEL identification), assessing or predicting the exposure level in the various scenarios of their use, and characterising the risk. The decision about admission takes into consideration the balance between risks and benefits. The post-marketing preventive activities consist of the promotion of a proper risk management at the workplace. Such a management includes the risk assessment of the specific conditions of use, the adoption of proper work practices, and the health surveillance of the workers. Each country should develop an adequate National Plan for Prevention of Pesticide Risk which allocates different roles and tasks at the central, regional and local level.

Humans↗

A multi-analyte method for the quantification of contemporary pesticides in human serum and plasma using high-resolution mass spectrometry.

We have developed a sensitive and accurate analytical method for quantifying 29 contemporary pesticides in human serum or plasma. These pesticides include organophosphates, carbamates, chloroacetanilides, and synthetic pyrethroids among others and include pesticides used in agricultural and residential settings. Our method employs a simple solid-phase extraction followed by a highly selective analysis using isotope dilution gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Our method is very accurate, has limits of detection in the low pg/g range and coefficients of variation of typically less than 20% at the low pg/g end of the method linear range. We have used this method to measure plasma pesticide concentrations in females living in an urban area. We found detectable concentrations of carbaryl/naphthalene, propoxur, bendiocarb, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, dicloran, captan and folpet or their metabolites in more than 20% of the plasma samples tested.

Calibration↗

Screening of selected pesticides for inhibition of CYP19 aromatase activity in vitro.

Many pesticides are able to block or activate the steroid hormone receptors and/or to affect the levels of sex hormones, thereby potentially affecting the development or expression of the male and female reproductive system or both. This emphasizes the relevance of screening pesticides for a wide range of hormone-mimicking effects. Twenty-two pesticides were tested for their ability to affect CYP19 aromatase activity in human placental microsomes using the classical [(3)H](2)O method. Prochloraz, imazalil, propioconazole, fenarimol, triadimenol, triadimefon (all fungicides), and dicofol (an acaricide) gave rise to a statistically significant inhibition of aromatase activity. The IC(50)s of prochloraz, imazalil, propioconazole fenarimol, triadimenol, and triadimefon were calculated from dose-response curves to be 0.04, 0.34, 6.5, 10, 21 and 32 microM, respectively. The IC(50) of dicofol was greater than 50 microM. The positive control 4-hydroxyandrostendione (1 microM) caused an inhibition of aromatase activity by 74%. The compounds, which did not affect the aromatase activity, were bromopropylate, chlorfenvinphos, chlorobenzilate, chlorpyrifos, diuron, heptachlor, iprodion, linuron, pentachlorphenol, procymidon, propyzamide, quintozen, tetrachlorvinphos and tetradifon. With the purpose of comparing the results for fenarimol obtained with the microsomal system with data from an intact cell system, an aromatase assay based on JEG-3 cells was established. 4-Hydroxyandrostendione (1 microM) inhibited the aromatase activity in JEG-3 cells by 94%. The IC(50) for fenarimol in this system was 2 microM, slightly lower than that observed in the microsomal system. For the first time, fenarimol has been demonstrated to inhibit aromatase activity in human tissues and, furthermore, propioconazole, triadimefon, and triadimenol were identified as weak aromatase inhibitors. In conclusion, seven out of 22 tested pesticides turned out to be weak to moderate aromatase inhibitors in vitro, indicating the relevance of elucidating the endocrine effects in vivo of these- compounds.

Aromatase Inhibitors↗

A longitudinal study of semen quality in pesticide spraying Danish farmers. The ASCLEPIOS Study Group.

It was hypothesized that occupational exposure to pesticides during a spraying season causes changes in semen quality that might be detected in a longitudinal study. We analyzed the within-person changes in semen quality and reproductive hormones across a spraying season in groups of farmers using and not using pesticides. A total of 248 men collected two semen samples (participation rate: 32%). The median sperm concentration declined significantly from the first to the second sample in both groups, but there was no statistical difference in the decline between the two groups, unadjusted or adjusted. Only minor changes were found in sperm morphology, vitality, motility, sperm chromatin denaturation (SCSA), and reproductive hormones, and the differences in changes between the two groups were nonsignificant, or, in the opposite direction to the expected. There was no relation between the changes in sperm parameters in relation to pesticide exposure variables. In conclusion, use of pesticides by Danish farmers is not a likely cause of short-term effects on semen quality and reproductive hormones.

Adolescent↗

Studies of pesticides by collision-induced dissociation, postsource-decay, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry.

The use of collision-induced dissociation, postsource decay (CID-PSD) matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry for the analysis of small organic molecules is demonstrated. Three pesticides: paraquat, diquat, and difenzoquat were chosen for this study. The matrices 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB), alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (alpha-CHCA), and sinapinic acid (SA) were selected to investigate the effect of the matrix on the CID-PSD MALDI spectra of these molecules. Alpha-CHCA and DHB were found to be appropriate matrices for the pesticides studied. Spectra for a given pesticide obtained from different matrices were compared with each other, and the differences between them are discussed. A comparison of CID-PSD MALDI with fast-atom bombardment MS/MS spectra is presented; the agreement of pesticide fragmentation patterns between the two methods indicates that CID-PSD MALDI MS is a reliable and efficient technique for structural elucidation of small molecules.

Coumaric Acids↗

Epidemiologic studies of occupational pesticide exposure and cancer: regulatory risk assessments and biologic plausibility.

Epidemiologic studies frequently show associations between self-reported use of specific pesticides and human cancers. These findings have engendered debate largely on methodologic grounds. However, biologic plausibility is a more fundamental issue that has received only superficial attention. The purpose of this commentary is to review briefly the toxicology and exposure data that are developed as part of the pesticide regulatory process and to discuss the applicability of this data to epidemiologic research. The authors also provide a generic example of how worker pesticide exposures might be estimated and compared to relevant toxicologic dose levels. This example provides guidance for better characterization of exposure and for consideration of biologic plausibility in epidemiologic studies of pesticides.

Agricultural Workers' Diseases↗

Micronuclei in peripheral blood lymphocytes and buccal epithelial cells of Polish farmers exposed to pesticides.

In this biomonitoring study, we investigated whether an occupational exposure to a complex mixture of chemical pesticides produced a significant increase of micronuclei (MN) in both peripheral blood lymphocytes and buccal cells. Forty-nine male workers exposed to pesticides, from an agricultural area of Malopolska Region in Southern Poland, together with 50 men from the same area without indication of exposure to pesticides that served as controls, were used in this investigation. No statistically significant differences in the frequencies of cytogenetic damage were detected between exposed and control individuals, for either type of cells. The multiple linear regression analysis in the case of lymphocytes indicated that the studied cytogenetic endpoints were inversely influenced by alcohol; whilst a negative binomial regression, in the case of buccal cells, indicated that the MN values were directly influenced by the ingestion of red meat. An inverse negative relationship between the cytokinesis-block proliferation index and age, and a significant increase of miscarriages due to the exposure to pesticides were also observed.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

Cytogenetic biomonitoring in a Mexican floriculture worker group exposed to pesticides.

The cytogenetic damage in floriculturists of Morelos State, Mexico, exposed to pesticides, was evaluated by mean of biological tests based on sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in lymphocytes of peripheral blood and micronuclei (MN) in exfoliated cells of the buccal mucosa. Besides the cytogenetic analysis, the effects of pesticides exposure on the cell proliferation kinetics (CPK) by the replication index (RI) were also studied. The mitotic index (MI) to detect cytotoxic effects was also determined. Greenhouses of the towns of Santa Catarina, Jiutepec and Yecapixtla were selected for the study, because the application of chemicals to the flowers is uncontrolled. As non-exposed group, people of the town of Temisco were chosen; their activity was not related to pesticides. The SCE were analyzed in the peripheral blood of 30 persons, 22 women and 8 men, with 10 and 1.5 years of exposure to pesticides, respectively, and of 30 persons, 28 women and 2 men, that were considered as the non-exposed group. Samples of buccal mucosa were also taken from each person. Significant differences between exposed and non-exposed groups were found in SCE, CKP and MI. Besides, the MN frequencies in the exposed group were three times higher than in the non-exposed group.

Adolescent↗

A survey of EPA/OPP and open literature on selected pesticide chemicals. II. Mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of selected chloroacetanilides and related compounds.

With this effort, we continue our examination of data on selected pesticide chemicals and their related analogues that have been presented to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP). This report focuses on a group of selected chloroacetanilides and a few related compounds. As part of the registration process for pesticidal chemicals, interested parties (registrants) must submit toxicity information to support the registration including both mutagenicity and carcinogenicity data. Although this information is available to the public via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the OPP, publication in the scientific literature allows greater dissemination and examination of the data. For this Special Issue, graphic profiles have been prepared of the mutagenicity and carcinogenicity data available in the submissions to OPP. Also, a discussion is presented about how toxicity data are used to help establish tolerances (limits of pesticide residues in foods). The mutagenicity results submitted by registrants are supplemented by data on these chemicals from the open literature to provide a full perspective of their genetic toxicology. The group of chloroacetanilides reviewed here display a consistent pattern of mutagenic activity, probably mediated via metabolites. This mutagenic activity is a mechanistically plausible factor in the development of tumors seen in experimental animals exposed to this class of chemicals.

Acetamides↗

Human blood and environmental media screening method for pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyl compounds using liquid extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis.

Screening assessment methods have been developed for semi- and non-volatile persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for human blood and solid environmental media. The specific methodology is developed for measuring the presence of "native" compounds, specifically, a variety of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), organophosphate pesticides (OPPs), and for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The method is demonstrated on anonymous Red Cross blood samples as well as two potential environmental sources, tracked in soil and dog hair. This work is based on previously developed methods for semi-volatile hydrocarbon exposure from fuels usage and similarly employs liquid solvent extraction, evaporative volume reduction. and subsequent specialized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis (GC-MS). Standard curves, estimates of recovery efficiency, and specific GC-MS SIM quantification methods were developed for common pesticides including diazinon. aldrin, chlorpyrifos, malathion, dieldrin, DDT, permethrin, cyhalothrin, and cypermethrin, and for seven selected PCBs. Trace levels of certain PCBs and pesticides such as permethrin, dieldrin, malathion, lindane, diazinon, and chlorpyrifos were tentatively identified in anonymous blood samples as well as in two potential environmental sources. tracked in soil and dog hair. The method provides a simple screening procedure for various media and a variety of common organic pollutants without extensive sample preparation. It is meant to complement and augment data from more specific or complex methodology, to provide initial broad spectrum guidance for designing targeted experiments, and to provide confirmatory evidence for the usual metabolic biomarker measurements made to assess human exposure.

Environmental Monitoring↗

Analytical methods for biological monitoring of exposure to pesticides: a review.

Synthetic pesticides have been used since in the early to mid twentieth century. In the US alone, over 800 pesticide active ingredients are formulated in about 21,000 different commercial products. Although many public health benefits have been realized by the use of pesticides, their potential impact on the environment and public health is substantial. For risk assessment studies, exposure assessment is an integral component, which has unfortunately, often been weak or missing. In the past several decades, researchers have proposed to fill these missing data gaps using biological monitoring of specific markers related to exposures. In this paper, we present a review of existing analytical methodology for the biological monitoring of exposure to pesticides. We also present a critical assessment of the existing methodology and explore areas in which more research is needed.

Environmental Monitoring↗

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for the fast separation and determination of pesticides extracted from human serum.

A comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatograph with flame ionization detection was constructed and evaluated for the fast separation and analysis of pesticides. A two-stage thermal desorption modulator served as an interface between the two capillary GC columns. By controlling the temperature of the modulator chamber, all sample substances covering a wide polarity and volatility range were modulated without sample breakthrough. Orthogonal separations were achieved with a nonpolar first column and a moderately polar second column. The system allows fast separations of complex mixtures. When we used the method to analyze pesticides extracted from human samples, we achieved complete separation of 15 pesticides in less than 4 min. The flame ionization detector gave detection limits for particular pesticides that ranged from 1.8 to 3.8 pg on-column. The relative standard deviations were from 6.2% to 8.8% over the linear dynamic range.

Chromatography, Gas↗

Choosing between atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and electrospray ionization interfaces for the HPLC/MS analysis of pesticides.

An evaluation of over 75 pesticides by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) clearly shows that different classes of pesticides are more sensitive using either atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) or electrospray ionization (ESI). For example, neutral and basic pesticides (phenylureas, triazines) are more sensitive using APCI (especially positive ion). While cationic and anionic herbicides (bipyridylium ions, sulfonic acids) are more sensitive using ESI (especially negative ion). These data are expressed graphically in a figure called an ionization-continuum diagram, which shows that protonation in the gas phase (proton affinity) and polarity in solution, expressed as proton addition or subtraction (pKa), is useful in selecting APCI or ESI. Furthermore, sodium adduct formation commonly occurs using positive ion ESI but not using positive ion APCI, which reflects the different mechanisms of ionization and strengthens the usefulness of the ionization-continuum diagram. The data also show that the concept of "wrong-way around" ESI (the sensitivity of acidic pesticides in an acidic mobile phase) is a useful modification of simple PKa theory for mobile-phase selection. Finally, this finding is used to enhance the chromatographic separation of oxanilic and sulfonic acid herbicides while maintaining good sensitivity in LC/MS using ESI negative.

Atmospheric Pressure↗