Flufenoxuron suppresses the proliferation of testicular cells by targeting mitochondria in mice

Reliability of pesticide toxicity evaluation: Effects of pesticides on cellular respiration under conventional versus physiological growth conditions

The use of pesticides to enhance crop yields remains prevalent despite persistent concerns about their potential harmful side effects. Moreover, most cell viability studies are conducted in growth media and oxygen concentrations that do not accurately reflect the in vivo conditions in tissues, and therefore may influence the outcomes of toxicity assessments. The aim of the study was to examine how culture conditions alter the influence of pesticides on mitochondrial energy production. For this purpose, two cell lines - Caco-2 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells) and HepG2 (a human hepatoma cell line) - were cultured over an extended period with low doses of three widely used plant protection products: the fungicide boscalid, the herbicide glyphosate, and the insecticide NeemAzal. Cells were grown in conventional DMEM and Plasmax media, the latter resembling blood plasma composition, under normoxic (19 %) and physoxic (5 %) oxygen concentrations. High-resolution respirometry was employed to assess pesticide-induced alterations on mitochondrial metabolism and to evaluate how these effects differed between conventional and physiologically relevant environments. The results revealed minimal alterations with NeemAzal exposure, while boscalid induced the most pronounced effects, including a decreased mitochondrial bioenergetics index, reduced ATP-synthase-linked oxygen consumption, and impaired respiration associated with respiratory chain complexes I and II. Notably, these impairments in mitochondrial energy production were more pronounced in cells cultured in Plasmax media compared to DMEM. These findings highlight the critical importance of mimicking tissue-specific conditions, such as media composition and oxygen tension, in toxicity studies to obtain more accurate and physiologically relevant insights.

UiO-66 with missing cluster defects for high-efficient extraction and enrichment of benzoylurea insecticides

The creation of defects in crystalline structures can tune metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) properties, such as improving their adsorptive and catalytic performance with producing more porosity and active sites. In this work, the bimetallic UiO-66 containing Zn and Zr was prepared. And then UiO-66 with missing cluster defects (UiO-66-1/3) were obtained by acid washing to remove the Zn nodes. UiO-66-1/3 was used as sorbent of dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE) to extract and enrich (BUs). Combination with high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was developed to detect trace BUs in soil samples. Adsorption equilibrium can be reached in 3 min. The method possesses high enrichment factor (202-325), low detection limit (0.005-0.04 ng·mL-1), and wide linear range (0.02-200 ng·mL-1). In addition, the recovery rate of UiO-66-1/3 as an adsorbent was still higher than 95% after reused for 16 times. This work provides a new material for the enrichment and detection of benzoylurea insecticides in the environment.

Assessing the Risks of Pesticide Exposure: Implications for Endocrine Disruption and Male Fertility

Pesticides serve as essential tools in agriculture and public health, aiding in pest control and disease management. However, their widespread use has prompted concerns regarding their adverse effects on humans and animals. This review offers a comprehensive examination of the toxicity profile of pesticides, focusing on their detrimental impacts on the nervous, hepatic, cardiac, and pulmonary systems, and their impact on reproductive functions. Additionally, it discusses how pesticides mimic hormones, thereby inducing dysfunction in the endocrine system. Pesticides disrupt the endocrine system, leading to neurological impairments, hepatocellular abnormalities, cardiac dysfunction, and respiratory issues. Furthermore, they also exert adverse effects on reproductive organs, disrupting hormone levels and causing reproductive dysfunction. Mechanistically, pesticides interfere with neurotransmitter function, enzyme activity, and hormone regulation. This review highlights the effects of pesticides on male reproduction, particularly sperm capacitation, the process wherein ejaculated sperm undergo physiological changes within the female reproductive tract, acquiring the ability to fertilize an oocyte. Pesticides have been reported to inhibit the morphological changes crucial for sperm capacitation, resulting in poor sperm capacitation and eventual male infertility. Understanding the toxic effects of pesticides is crucial for mitigating their impact on human and animal health, and in guiding future research endeavors.

Phenylboronic acid-functionalized magnetic metal-organic framework nanoparticles for magnetic solid phase extraction of five benzoylurea insecticides

This research involves the construction of a phenylboronic acid-functionalized magnetic UiO-66 metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoparticle (CPBA@UiO-66@Fe₃O₄). Its design is primarily for the magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) of benzoylurea insecticides. An organic ligand, 2-amino terephthalic acid (2-ATPA), facilitated the introduction of amino groups while keeping the original crystal structure of UiO-66 intact. The constructed UiO-66 MOF showcases a porous structure and extensive surface area, thereby providing an optimal platform for further functionalization. The employment of 4-carboxylphenylboronic acid as a modifier notably amplified the extraction efficiency for benzoylureas. This improvement was due to the formation of B-N coordination and other secondary interactions. By integrating this with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we established a quantitative analytical method for benzoylurea insecticides. This method achieved a wide linear range (2.5-500 μg L^-1 or 5-500 μg L^-1), satisfactory recoveries (83.3-95.1%), and acceptable limits of detection (LODs: 0.3-1.0 μg L^-1). The developed method proved successful when applied to six tea infusion samples, representing China's six major tea categories. Semi-fermented and light-fermented tea samples demonstrated relatively higher spiking recoveries.

Mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes: A promising toxicity regulation target

Mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes (MAMs) are dynamic suborganelle membranes that physically couple endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria to provide a platform for exchange of intracellular molecules and crosstalk between the two organelles. Dysfunctions of mitochondria and ER and imbalance of intracellular homeostasis have been discovered in the research of toxics. Cellular activities such as oxidative stress, ER stress, Ca²⁺ transport, autophagy, mitochondrial fusion and fission, and apoptosis mediated by MAMs are closely related to the toxicological effects of various toxicants. These cellular activities mediated by MAMs crosstalk with each other. Regulating the structure and function of MAMs can alleviate the damage caused by toxicants to some extent. In this review, we discuss the relationships between MAMs and the mechanisms of toxicological effects, and highlight MAMs as a potential target for protection against toxicants.

Ameliorative effect of avocado oil against lufenuron induced testicular damage and infertility in male rats

Lufenuron is a benzoylurea pesticide that causes significant histological and histochemical damage in mammals. Avocado is a common food in the human diet that contains antioxidant and antitumor properties. In male rats, avocado oil's protection against lufenuron-induced reproductive deterioration, oxidative stress, and DNA damages was investigated. Twenty-eight mature male rats were selected and distributed into four groups: Group 1, control group were administered distilled water orally; Group 2 received 4 ml/kg avocado; Group 3 was given lufenuron (1.6 mg/kg), and Group 4 was given avocado oil/lufenuron. The findings show that lufenuron treatment reduces reproductive hormone levels, sperm count, motility, viability and causes negative histopathological changes in testicular tissue, such as decreased epithelial height and increased luminal diameter degenerated spermatogenesis. Furthermore, lufenuron reduced the content of antioxidant enzymes while increasing the level of malondialdehyde, nitric oxide and corresponding DNA damage. Results showed that lufenuron is associated with testicular function impairment, which leads to infertility. Treatment with avocado oil improved reproductive hormone secretions, enzymatic activity, histological and DNA damage parameters in testis tissues, reducing the negative effects of lufenuron, proving that it may have a therapeutic role against lufenuron-mediated testicular toxicity.

The endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondrial crosstalk is involved in the mitigation mechanism of eucalyptol on imidacloprid toxicity in Ctenopharyngodon idellus kidney cells

Imidacloprid (IMI), a systemic neonicotinoid insecticide widely used in agriculture, resulting in persistence in aquatic environments that threaten the survival of organisms. Eucalyptol (EUC), a monoterpenoid found in plants, can be applied to medicine, food, and aquaculture. However, the potential protective effects of EUC on cell damage under neonicotinoid pesticide toxicity, and the role of ER stress and its mediated apoptosis and necroptosis in it, remain unclear. Therefore, we treated Ctenopharyngodon idellus kidney (CIK) cells with 20 mg/L IMI and 20 μM EUC for 48 h. The results showed that IMI exposure caused a higher GRP78 levels, activated ATF6, PERK-eIF2α and IRE1-XBP1 pathways, led to the decline of ATPase activities and ATP content, induced the expression of cytokine (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and INF-γ), triggered BCL2/BAX-mediated apoptosis and RIP1/RIP3/MLKL-dependent necroptosis in the CIK cell line. Surprisingly, EUC had an effect against IMI-induced cytotoxicity, showing that it effectively mitigated the above-mentioned IMI-exposure-induced changes. Taken together, these results suggested that EUC could alleviated IMI-induced cell death and dysimmunity by recovering ER stress/mitochondria imbalance. These results partly explained the mechanism of biological threat on fish under IMI exposure and the potential application value of EUC in aquaculture.

Phenylboronic acid-functionalized cross-linked chitosan magnetic adsorbents for the magnetic solid-phase extraction of benzoylurea pesticides

In this study, a 4-formylphenylboronic acid-modified cross-linked chitosan magnetic nanoparticle (FPBA@CCHS@Fe₃ O₄ ) was fabricated. The synthesized material was utilized as the magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent for the enrichment of six benzoylurea pesticides. In addition to B-N coordination, FPBA@CCHS@Fe₃ O₄ interacts with benzoylureas through hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking interaction on account of rich active groups (amino and hydroxyl) and aromatic rings in structure. Compared to traditional extraction methods, less adsorbent (20 mg) and reduced extraction time (3 min) were achieved. The adsorbent also exhibited good reusability (no less than 10 times). Coupled with a high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector, satisfactory recoveries (89.1-103.9%) and an acceptable limit of detection (0.2-0.7 μg/L) were obtained. Under optimized conditions, the established method was successfully applied to the tea infusion samples from six major tea categories with acceptable recoveries ranging from 76.8 to 110%, indicating its application potential for the quantitative detection of pesticides in complex matrices.

Photo-degradation behavior of seven benzoylurea pesticides with C3N4 nanofilm and its aquatic impacts on Scendesmus obliquus

Present concerns on the residual benzoylurea pesticides (BUPs) are rapidly climbing as their market shares increase and now seven typical compounds were picked to study their photo-degradation behavior and ecological impacts. Carbon nitride (C₃N₄) nanofilm at a thickness of 50-80 nm was built on the glass slides and utilized to evaluate the photostability of pesticides under visible light. The results showed that the nano-C₃N₄ can promote the degradation efficiency of BUPs and it follows the first-order dynamic mechanism. They could be divided into three categories with the substituents and their degradations were discriminated in order of chlorofluoro-, chlorofluoroalkoxy- and chlorofluorophenoxy- substituted ones. Analyzing the intermediates by UHPLC-MS, it can be speculated that the similar pathways came to BUPs such as cleavage of urea-bridge, hydroxylation and dehalogenation. It is attractive that they all passed into a same molecule, 2-fluorobenzamide (m/z, 301.14). Moreover Scendesmus obliquus was applied to indicate the ecological impacts of originals and their photoproducts. Exposed to pesticides, the levels of chlorophyll a demonstrated much more inhibition than chlorophyll b. Lufenuron and chlorfuazuron among seven showed the higher toxicity for algal cells and finally the photodegradation products showed the lowest toxicity. The activities of antioxidant enzymes happened to a significant remedy after photodegradation. It can be concluded that the residual BUPs under visible-light irradiation may degrade through similar pathways and reduce the aquatic toxicity with the presence of C₃N₄ nanofilm.