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Among the numerous pesticides, anticholinesterase compounds are widely used. Their toxicity induced by cholinesterase inhibition at the synapses and neuromuscular junctions, leading to neurological disorders. Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) has been used as sensitive biomarkers for pesticides exposure. In the present study, AChE and BuChE levels were estimated in agricultural workers exposed to carbamate and organophosphorus pesticides with average 9.8±3.5 years relative to the controls. The toxic effects of pesticides may be attributed to induction of oxidative stress and alteration in antioxidant system. Our results showed significant decrease in AChE and BuChE levels with inhibition percentage of 39% and 61% respectively, in exposed workers than controls. Additionally, there was a significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) as an oxidative stress marker. Concerning antioxidant status, there was significant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH) levels while there were significant increases in activity of glutathione dependent enzymes, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-S-transeferase (GST). On the other hands, there were significant decreases in enzymatic antioxidants, super oxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase. A negative correlation was found between BuChE activity and MDA levels. So, it was concluded that evaluation of BuChE inhibition may be sensitive tool for assessing the risk of oxidative stress induced after occupational pesticides exposure.

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Summary Computational analysis and interpretation of metabolomic profiling data remains a major challenge in translational research. Exploring metabolic biomarkers and dysregulated metabolic pathways associated with a patient phenotype could offer new opportunities for targeted therapeutic intervention. Metabolite clustering based on structural similarity has the potential to uncover common underpinnings of biological processes. To address this need, we have developed the MetChem package. MetChem is a quick and simple tool that allows to classify metabolites in structurally related modules, thus revealing their functional information. Availability MetChem is freely available from the R archive CRAN (http://cran.r-project.org). The software is distributed under the GNU General Public License (version 3 or later). Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.