In Vitro Cytotoxic Effect of Glyphosate Mixture Containing Surfactants

Abstract

We investigated whether glyphosate influences the cellular toxicity of the surfactants TN-20 and LN-10 on the mouse fibroblast-like cells, alveolar epithelial cells, and a heart cell line. The cytotoxicity of TN-20 and LN-10 (0.4-100 µM), in the presence or absence of glyphosate was determined by assessing membrane integrity. TN-20 toxicity was significantly lower in the presence of 50 µM glyphosate for the fibroblast-like cell (6.25 µM; 3.9% ± 3.4% vs -4.8% ± 0.7%), for the alveolar cells (0.78 µM; 5.7% ± 0.9% vs 0.1% ± 0.6%), and for the heart cell line (25.0 µM; 7.9% ± 3.0% vs 19.4% ± 0.7%) compared to that of TN-20 alone. The cellular toxicity of LN-10 towards the fibroblast-like cells was found to be increased in the presence of 50 µM glyphosate when LN-10 concentrations of 50 µM (31.3% ± 3.9% vs 19.2% ± 0.9%) and 100 µM (62.1% ± 3.4% vs 39.0% ± 0.7%) were compared to that of LN-10 alone. These results suggest that the mixture toxicity may be a factor in glyphosate-surfactant toxicity in patients with acute glyphosate herbicide intoxication.

Surfactant 4-nonylphenyl-polyethylene glycol stimulates reactive oxygen species generation and apoptosis in human neuroblastoma cells

“…The contribution of surfactants to pesticide poisoning has been the focus of many recent studies Kim et al, 2013;Seok et al, 2011;Song et al, 2012a). Our previous work demonstrated that surfactants have toxic effects in cells, including disruption of cell membrane integrity and protein synthesis and alteration of metabolic and mitochondrial activities (Song et al, 2012b), with mitochondrial damage leading to apoptosis and necrosis .…”

Incidence, Etiology, and Outcomes of Rhabdomyolysis in a Single Tertiary Referral Center

“…Among them, 2 patients (7.1%) had rhabdomyolysis (Tables 1 and 2). We have previously described the cell membrane toxicity of surfactants that are frequently included in pesticide formulations (20) and the synergistic toxicity between these surfactants and the actual herbicides (21). On the basis of these findings, we believe that the combined toxicity of surfactants and the chief pesticide ingredient is responsible for the high incidence of rhabdomyolysis in acute pesticide intoxication.…”

Potential toxic effects of glyphosate and its commercial formulations below regulatory limits

“…Adjuvants were always more toxic than the formulations, themselves always more than G. (Song et al, 2012) L-929 Fibroblasts, A549 Alveolar cells, Adjuvan ts / G 72h 0.066 -17…”