Environmentally relevant atrazine exposures cause DNA damage in cells of the lateral antennules of crayfish (Faxonius virilis)

Abstract

The herbicide atrazine is heavily applied in agricultural areas in the Midwestern United States and can run-off and seep into surrounding aquatic habitats where concentrations can reach over 300 ppb. It is known that acute exposures to 80 ppb atrazine cause lasting deficiencies in the chemoreception of food and mate odors. Since atrazine impairs chemosensory responses, the goal of this study was to determine the effect of atrazine on cells, including olfactory sensory neurons, located in the lateral antennules of crayfish. In this experiment, we treated crayfish for 10 days with ecologically relevant concentrations of 0, 10, 40, 80, 100 and 300 ppb (μg L −1 ) of atrazine. Following treatments, the distal portion of the lateral antennules was cryosectioned. We used a TdT mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay to determine if any cells had DNA damage and may be thus undergoing apoptosis. We found that as atrazine concentrations increase above 10 ppb, the number of TUNEL-positive cells, visualized in the lateral antennules, significantly increases. Our data show that atrazine exposure causes DNA damage in cells of the lateral antennules, including olfactory sensory neurons, thus leading to impairments in chemosensory abilities. Because crayfish rely heavily on chemoreception for survival, changes in their ability to perceive odors following atrazine exposure may have detrimental effects on population size.

Role of Fucoidan on the Growth Behavior and Blood Metabolites and Toxic Effects of Atrazine in Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758)

“…Rearing water can be polluted by waterborne herbicides resulting from the agriculture sector and directly impair fish’s health condition [ 15 ]. According to the literature, atrazine’s pollution resulted in hazardous effects on fish such as immunosuppression, oxidative stress, inflammation, and high acceptability to infection [ 13 , 14 , 16 ]. For a long time, antibiotics were applied to enhance aquatic animals’ immunity [ 38 ], but it is no longer allowed in many countries, and other natural immunostimulants are suggested [ 39 ].…”

“…Mainly, exposure to herbicides disrupts respiration through gills, resulting in an imbalance of metabolic functions [ 11 ]. Moreover, ATZ toxicity induces oxidative stress and the release of free radicals (ROS) involved in destroying DNA and the death of immune cells [ 12 , 13 ]. Therefore, genotoxicity [ 13 ], immunosuppression, oxidative stress [ 14 ], inflammation [ 15 ], hepato-renal failure [ 16 ], and low reproduction ability [ 17 ] are the significant negative impacts of ATZ toxicity in aquatic organisms.…”

Environmentally Relevant Atrazine Exposure Leads to Increases in DNA Damage and Changes in Morphology in the Hepatopancreas of Crayfish (Faxonius Virilis)

“…Atrazine treatments were performed using methods from Abdulelah et al (2020). Cray sh were treated for 10 days in 3000 mL translucent plastic containers (31 cm length ± 18.5 cm width ± 11 cm height; N = 1 cray sh per container) with secured lids.…”

“…Exposure to ATR causes biochemical changes and DNA damage in the cells of the hepatopancreas of D. rerio and liver of Prochilodus lineatus (Zhu et al, 2011b;Santos and Martinez, 2012). DNA damage was also detected in peripherally located antennule cells of cray sh (Faxonius virilis) following acute ATR exposures (Abdulelah et al, 2020). Because of where they are located, these appendages and cells presumably come in contact with ATR readily in their environment, leading to damage and long-term chemosensory de cits (Belanger et al, 2016).…”

Removal of atrazine from aqueous solutions onto a magnetite/chitosan/activated carbon composite in a fixed-bed column system: optimization using response surface methodology

“…Moreover, atrazine is also classied as a hazardous compound due to the negative impact it has on the aquatic environment and human health. 2,3 Thus, several methods such as photodegradation, 4 electrocatalytic processes, 5 oxidation processes, 6 membrane techniques, 7 biological treatments 8 and adsorption 9,10 are used for the removal of atrazine from polluted water. Among these methods, adsorption processes have become very attractive techniques because of their simplicity and low cost.…”