Immunotoxic properties of pesticides: effects of diazinon-oxon and fipronil on lymphocytic Jurkat cells.
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1
University of Liverpool, Department of Comparative Molecular Medicine, United Kingdom
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2
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Toxicology, Greece
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3
Nottingham Trent University, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Centre, United Kingdom
Introduction. Many pesticides are well known neurotoxicants as they have been primarily designed to target the nervous system of insects. However, apart from the nervous system, the immune system can also be affected by pesticides. The immunotoxic potential of organophosphates (OPs), such as diazinon (DZN), has been amply investigated the last two decades (Galloway and Handy, 2003), but there is no information related to the immunotoxic potential of the new generation pesticides, such as fipronil (FIP), a phenylpyrazole compound, which is gradually replacing OPs.
In this study, we evaluated the effects of diazinon-oxon (DZO), a major metabolite of DZN, and FIP on human lymphocytic Jurkat cells and we further identified molecular mechanisms underlying their potential immunotoxic properties.
Methods. Jurkat cells were stimulated by ionomycin (IoM) and phorbol-myristate acetate (PMA) and simultaneously treated for 24 hours with non-cytotoxic concentrations of either DZO or FIP (1, 5, 10 μM), as determined by MTT viability assay. The effects of DZO and FIP on the production of various interleukins such as IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 were evaluated by ELISA.
Results. IL-2 production in Jurkat cells was significantly stimulated by IoM and PMA, whereas IFN-γ was to a lesser extent. Exposure of these cells to FIP resulted in marked down regulation of IL-2, but only at the 10 µM concentration. The same concentration of DZO caused a slight but not significant decrease of IL-2 levels.
Similarly, cell treatment with DZO indicated that the expression of IFN-γ was not significantly affected, whereas the highest concentration of FIP consistently induced notable reductions in the levels of this interleukin.
Conclusion. The data produced from this in vitro study, have shown that FIP but not DZO alters the production of various interleukins and therefore can potentially affect the complex function of the immune system even at non-cytotoxic concentrations.
References
1. Galloway and Handy (2003). Ecotoxicology 12: 345-363.
Keywords:
Neurotoxicity,
organophosphates,
Immunotoxicity
Conference:
8th Southeast European Congress on Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity - XEMET 2010, Thessaloniki, Greece, 1 Oct - 5 Oct, 2010.
Presentation Type:
Oral
Topic:
Xenobiotic toxicity
Citation:
Sidiropoulou
E,
Sachana
M,
Hargreaves
AJ and
Woldehiwet
Z
(2010). Immunotoxic properties of pesticides: effects of diazinon-oxon and fipronil on lymphocytic Jurkat cells..
Front. Pharmacol.
Conference Abstract:
8th Southeast European Congress on Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity - XEMET 2010.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fphar.2010.60.00196
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Received:
28 Oct 2010;
Published Online:
04 Nov 2010.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. M Sachana, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Toxicology, Thessaloniki, Greece, msachana@vet.auth.gr