Combined effects of maternal exposure to fungicides on behavioral development in F₁‐generation mice: 2. Fixed‐dose study of thiabendazole

Abstract

Background: Few published studies are reported for the neurobehavioral toxicity of combined exposure to fungicides in mammals. This study was aimed to re-evaluate the reproductive and neurobehavioral effects of maternal exposure to combined imazalil (IMZ) and thiabendazole (TBZ) with fixed-dose of TBZ in mice. Methods: IMZ/TBZ were given in the diet to provide levels of 0%/0% (control), 0.0015%/0.018% (IMZ/TBZ), 0.006%/0.018% and 0.024%/0.018% during the gestation and lactation periods. Selected reproductive and neurobehavioral parameters were measured in the F 1 generation. Results: No adverse effect of IMZ/TBZ was observed in litter size, litter weight, or sex ratio at birth. Concerning behavioral developmental parameters, the cliff avoidance on PND 7 of male offspring was restrained significantly in the treatment groups in a dose-related manner. Exploratory behavior examination indicated that the average time of rearing significantly lengthened in the high-dose group of male offspring. After weaning, the average time of rearing in exploratory behavior lengthened in a significant dose-related trend in adult females of the F 1 generation. Spontaneous behavior examination indicated that the average speed decreased significantly through 120 min in the high-dose group of the F 1-generation males. In females, the average time of rearing lengthened significantly through 120 min in the high-dose group. In the longitudinal patterns, the parallel lines of the control and treatment groups indicated a significant distance in the average time of rearing in the F 1-generation females. Conclusions: The results from two combined exposure studies of IMZ/TBZ suggest that TBZ concentrations have caused major effects on exploratory and spontaneous behavior.

Combined effects of maternal exposure to fungicides on behavioral development in F1‐generation mice: 3. Fixed‐dose study of imazalil

“…These results suggest that the high‐dose levels (HH) of IMZ/TBZ in the first study (Study I: Tanaka et al, 2020a) influenced strongly the exploratory and spontaneous behavior in adult mice finishing chemical administration than high‐dose levels (HM and MH, respectively) of IMZ/TBZ in the second (Study II: Tanaka et al, 2020b) and present (Study III) studies. The presumed level of high‐dose TBZ in the second study (26–74 mg kg −1 bw day −1 ) was lower than in the first study (87–215 mg kg −1 bw day −1 ) and that of IMZ was similar in both studies (2.2–98 mg kg −1 bw day −1 and 2.3–96 mg kg −1 bw day −1 , respectively).…”

“…Tanaka et al (2020b) reported that the average speed significantly slowed through 120 min in the high‐dose group (HM) of IMZ/TBZ (maternal exposure to approximately 35–98 and 26–74 mg kg −1 bw day −1 , respectively) in adult males, and the average time of rearing lengthened significantly through 120 min in the high‐dose group (HM) of females (Study II). The longitudinal pattern of the average time of rearing showed a similar but quantitative difference between the control and IMZ/TBZ treatment groups in females.…”

“…Therefore, two experiments had been planned to investigate which chemical was the main factor in the combined exposure of IMZ/TBZ. The first experiment was a study that fixes the concentration of TBZ and varies the IMZ concentration (Study II: Tanaka, Suzuki, Inomata, & Moriyasu, 2020b), and the other is a study that fixes the concentration of IMZ and varies the TBZ concentration. Tanaka et al (2020b) indicated that the combined exposure to IMZ/TBZ with fixed‐dose of TBZ produced dose‐related effects on exploratory and spontaneous behavior in females.…”

Novel Pilot-Scale Photocatalytic Nanofiltration Reactor for Agricultural Wastewater Treatment

“…Focusing on pesticides as target pollutants, the neonicotinoid insecticide acetamiprid (ACT) and the azole fungicide thiabendazole (TBZ) are very common substances, frequently used on Spanish and Greek fruit crops. Even if ACT and TBZ are allowed from the EU legislations without restrictions [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], many studies claim that they are suspicious for toxicity effects on mammals, bacteria, or fish after chronic exposure or in combination with other pesticides [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. For this reason, the efficient agro-industrial wastewater treatment, the complete elimination of these pesticides and the safe disposal of the effluents is of great importance, in order to avoid any environmental threat.…”