Alterations in activity and mRNA expression of acetylcholinesterase in the liver, kidney and gill of common carp exposed to atrazine and chlorpyrifos.

Houjuan Xing, Hongda Wu, Gang Sun, Ziwei Zhang, Shiwen Xu, Shu Li

College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, 59 Mucai Street, Harbin 150030, PR China.

Environmental toxicology and pharmacology 2013 Jan

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Insecticides and herbicides are widely used in modern agricultural production. The intensive use of insecticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) and herbicide atrazine (ATR) has resulted in serious environmental problems. Herein, we investigated alteration in activity and mRNA levels of AChE in the liver, kidney and gill from common carp after 40d exposure to CPF and ATR alone or in combination and 20d recovery treatment. Results indicated that activity and mRNA levels of AChE at all high-dose groups have been significantly decreased after CPF and ATR alone or ATR/CPF mixture exposure, and the changes were improved in the end of recovery tests in varying degrees, the activity and gene expression of AChE in the joint toxicity of ATR and CPF groups were significantly lower than that in the single toxicant group. Our study suggests that the decrease of AChE activity observed at all high-dose groups (CPF and ATR alone or in combination) may be directly related to a lower AChE expression, and the joint toxicity of ATR and CPF is higher than ATR and CPF alone. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Houjuan Xing, Hongda Wu, Gang Sun, Ziwei Zhang, Shiwen Xu, Shu Li. Alterations in activity and mRNA expression of acetylcholinesterase in the liver, kidney and gill of common carp exposed to atrazine and chlorpyrifos. Environmental toxicology and pharmacology. 2013 Jan;35(1):47-54