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Author Spotlight: A New and Efficient Method for Comprehensive Metabolite Cytotoxicity Assessment of Triazole Pesticides in Plants
Published on: December 22, 2023
Study of Cytotoxic Effects of Benzonitrile Pesticides
Petra Lovecka1, Marketa Thimova1, Petra Grznarova1
1Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 3, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
The benzonitrile herbicides bromoxynil, chloroxynil, dichlobenil, and ioxynil have been used actively worldwide to control weeds in agriculture since 1970s. Even though dichlobenil is prohibited in EU since 2008, studies addressing the fate of benzonitrile herbicides in the environment show that some metabolites of these herbicides are very persistent. We tested the cytotoxic effects of benzonitrile herbicides and their microbial metabolites using two human cell lines, Hep G2 and HEK293T, representing liver and kidneys as potential target organs in humans. The cell viability and proliferation were determined by MTT test and RTCA DP Analyzer system, respectively. The latter allows real-time monitoring of the effect of added substances. As the cytotoxic compounds could compromise cell membrane integrity, the lactate dehydrogenase test was performed as well. We observed high toxic effects of bromoxynil, chloroxynil, and ioxynil on both tested cell lines. In contrast, we determined only low inhibition of cell growth in presence of dichlobenil and microbial metabolites originating from the tested herbicides.
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