Atrazine (AZ) and glyphosate (GL) are herbicides that are widely applied to cereal crops in Egypt. The present study was designed to investigate the response of the snailBiomphalaria alexandrina(Mollusca: Gastropoda) as a bioindicator for endocrine disrupters in terms of steroid levels (testosterone (T) and 17β-estradiol (E)), alteration of microsomal CYP4501B1-like immunoreactivity, total protein (TP) level, and gonadal structure after exposure to sublethal concentrations of AZ or GL for 3 weeks. In order to study the ability of the snails' recuperation, the exposed snails were subjected to a recovery period for 2 weeks. The results showed that the level of T, E, and TP contents were significantly decreased (p ≤ 0.05) in both AZ- and GL-exposed groups compared with control (unexposed) group. The level of microsomal CYP4501B1-like immunoreactivity increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) in GL- and AZ-exposed snails and reach nearly a 50% increase in AZ-exposed group. Histological investigation of the ovotestis showed that AZ and GL caused degenerative changes including azoospermia and oocytes deformation. Interestingly, all the recovered groups did not return back to their normal state. It can be concluded that both herbicides are endocrine disrupters and cause cellular toxicity indicated by the decrease of protein content and the increase in CYP4501B1-like immunoreactivity. This toxicity is irreversible and the snail is not able to recover its normal state. The fluctuation of CYP4501B1 suggests that this vertebrate-like enzyme may be functional also in the snail and may be used as a biomarker for insecticide toxicity.
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), chitosan (CS), and cellulose (CL) are promising polymers for chemical functionalization and biomedical applications. This study aimed to synthesize folic acid (FA) conjugates with PVA, CS, and CL via chloroacetyl chloride, 2-bromopropionyl bromide, and epichlorohydrin to enhance it biomedical applications. The functionalized polymer conjugates were characterized by FT-IR, 1 H-NMR, GPC, and TGA techniques. FT-IR and 1 H-NMR revealed the main functional groups (O H, N H, C═O, C═N), the aromatic C H and N H protons of FA moieties. TGA illustrated two stages of decompositions of all-polymer conjugates. FA showed no antifungal activity, while two of the newly grafted polymer conjugates (chitosan bromopropionate-grafted FA and cellulose chloroacetate-grafted FA) illustrated antifungal activity against both Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans. Polymer conjugates; poly(vinyl chloroacetate)-grafted FA and chitosan-EPCH-grafted FA revealed good antifungal effect on C. albicans and A. fumigatus, respectively. Most FA polymer conjugates showed significant antitumor activity against EAC-bearing mice. Among these conjugates, chitosan chloroacetate-grafted FA (P-2A) showed the highest antitumor effect against EAC-bearing mice via reduction in total tumor volume. Thus, these conjugates provided enhanced antifungal and antitumor activities as compared with FA itself. These conjugates may act as promising biologically active carrier systems for other applications such as drug delivery.
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