Glyphosate and its formulation Roundup impair pig oocyte maturation

Abstract

, chiara nerozzi, car lo tamanini, Diego Bucci & Giovanna Galeati Glyphosate, formulated as glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) including the best-known formulation Roundup, is the world's most widely used herbicide. During the last years, the growing and widespread use of GBHs has raised a great concern about the impact of environmental contamination on animal and human health including potential effect on reproductive systems. Using an in vitro model of pig oocyte maturation, we examined the biological impact of both glyphosate and Roundup on female gamete evaluating nuclear maturation, cytoplasmic maturation and developmental competence of oocytes, steroidogenic activity of cumulus cells as well as intracellular levels of glutathione (GSH) and RoS of oocytes. our results indicate that although exposure to glyphosate and Roundup during in vitro maturation does not affect nuclear maturation and embryo cleavage, it does impair oocyte developmental competence in terms of blastocyst rate and cellularity. Moreover, Roundup at the same glyphosate-equivalent concentrations was shown to be more toxic than pure glyphosate, altering steroidogenesis and increasing oocyte ROS levels, thus confirming that Roundup adjuvants enhance glyphosate toxic effects and/or are biologically active in their side-effect and therefore should be considered and tested as active ingredients.

Review: Mechanisms of Glyphosate and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Action in Female and Male Fertility in Humans and Animal Models

“…In the uterus of adult female rats exposed to G (0.5-50 mg/kg/bw/d) for 3 days, perturbations in Erα, Erβ, and Pr mRNA and protein levels were recorded, without any difference in terms of cell proliferation [75]. G and R at 10 µg/L had no impact on viability and proliferation of endometrial and myometrial luteal cells in cows at day 8 and 12 of the estrus cycle [37]. In Friesian ewes exposed from PND1 to PND14 to 2 mg/kg/bw/d of Roundup Full II ® , there was decreased endometrial cell proliferation (in the LE, the GE, the SS, and the myometrium) at PND45 accompanied by the inhibition of the production of an important protein for gland development: Foxa2 [34,40].…”

“…Interestingly, 5 mg/L of G decreased the estrogen level but not the Pg level, and 10 mg/L of G did not change the expression of steroid hormones [36]. Bovine ovarian cells collected and cultured in vitro respectively at day 8 and 12 of the estrus cycle were exposed to 10 µg/L of R, which had no impact on steroidogenesis [37]. In swine cells exposed to 200 µg/L of G for 2 days, granulosa cells showed decreased estrogen production and increased Pg production [30].…”

Glyphosate infiltrates the brain and increases pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα: implications for neurodegenerative disorders

“…A further limitation of our study is the use of glyphosate as a single agent. Common herbicides provide glyphosate as a formulation with several active ingredients, and some recent studies have focused on glyphosate-based products with complex formulations and revealed associated toxicities [74][75][76][77]. Our study centers specifically on glyphosate traversal of the blood-brain barrier and accumulation in the brain, and additional studies are warranted to explore whether complex formulations behave similarly.…”

Seminal extracellular vesicles subsets modulate gene expression in cumulus cells of porcine in vitro matured oocytes

“…Thereafter, intact COCs with more than three layers of compact CCs and with uniform cytoplasm were selected under a stereomicroscope and transferred into a petri dish (35 mm, Nunclon, Denmark) prefilled with 2 mL of PBS supplemented with BSA (0.4%). IVM was conducted following the procedure described by Spinaci et al (2020) 71 . Briefly, COCs were washed three times in IVM medium (NCSU 37 supplemented with insulin (5 μg/mL), glutamine (1 mM), cysteine (0.57 mM), epidermal growth factor (10 ng/mL), β-mercaptoethanol (50 μM) and porcine follicular fluid (10%)).…”