Herbicide Intoxication: Still A Threat in Developing Countries

The critically ill patient has severe respiratory, cardiovascular or neurological disorder often in combination. The critically ill patient needs intensive care unit (ICU) admission and strict monitoring. Intoxication commonly experienced in a critically ill patient in ICU and can complicate management. In developing countries, poisoning of herbicide still common and used for suicide attempts. Herbicides such as paraquat and glyphosate are often used because of their availability. Paraquat and glyphosate have high mortality rate primarily as a suicide attempt agent in developing countries. The primary target for paraquat toxicity is in the lung and can cause lung fibrosis. Severe glyphosate intoxication can cause dehydration, hypotension, pneumonitis, oliguria, loss of consciousness, liver dysfunction, acidosis, hyperkalemia and dysrhythmia. Diagnosis for herbicide intoxication needs a history of herbicide ingestion, physical examination and laboratory examination. Stabilisation and supportive therapy is the only choice, and there is still no specific treatment for herbicide intoxication. The intoxication of herbicide particular critically ill patient because there is still no such specific treatment for these.

Salicylic Acid Induced Physiological Responses of Microchaete Sp. NCCU-342 Under PQ Stress

Weeds are the worst category of agricultural pests as they compete with crops for water, nutrients, and light, grow faster than crops and eventually reduces the crop productivity thereby increasing the production cost. Herbicide has been used as a management tool to control weeds, by modifying their physiological activities like reducing photosynthesis, increasing protease activity and free radicals etc. The application of non-selected herbicides kills not only the weeds but also non-target organisms including the main crop. Herbicides like paraquat have been used in rice fields but its toxic effects on other organisms is at par. Salicylic acid, a plant growth regulator, is known to regulate oxidative stress in plants subjected to unfavourable environmental conditions. Given this, the present study was designed to study the effect of salicylic acid in Microchaete sp. NCCU-342 exposed to paraquat. The results obtained demonstrated that the paraquat toxicity elevated MDA and H2O2 levels, indicating free radical formation. However, supplementation of salicylic acid in the culture medium reduced the paraquat toxicity. The content of MDA and H2O2 in presence of salicylic acid was similar to the control. It enhances phenolic compound (29.07%) and phytohormones content (IAA-2.96%, SA-96.59%) and regulate the redox state of the cells. A significant change (recorded in percentage) was observed in the antioxidant enzyme activities including SOD (121.62 %), CAT (30.38 %), APX (74.38 %), GPX (127 %) and GR (141%) in presence of paraquat and after supplementation of salicylic acid. Antioxidant assay confirmed the change in antioxidants in form of phenolic compounds. Salicylic acid supplementation also enhanced the antibacterial activity of cyanobacteria, highlighting that it induces resistance against biotic stress as well as the abiotic stress. This work provides evidence for the ability of salicylic acid to alleviate the paraquat-induced toxicity, maintain redox state and resist the cell against both biotic and abiotic stress.

Overexpression of EiKCS confers paraquat-tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) by promoting polyamine pathway

Paraquat is an important bipyridine herbicide by acting on the photosynthetic system of the plants and generating reactive oxygen species leading to cell death, whereas the mechanism of the paraquat resistance remains to be explored. In this study, a putative paraquat-resistant gene EiKCS from goosegrass (Eleusine indica L.) was isolated and overexpressed in a transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.). This transgenic rice (KCSox) was treated by exogenous spermidine and paraquat and then was analyzed by qualitative and quantitative proteomics. Overexpressing of EiKCS enhanced paraquat tolerance in KCSox by the accumulation of endogenous polyamines whose dominant presences of polyamines benzoylation derivatizations in rice were C18H20N2O2, C28H31N3O3, and C38H42N4O4. The mechanism underlying the improving tolerance enhanced antioxidant capacity of ROS systems and light-harvesting in photosynthesis in KCSox rice leaves to reducing paraquat toxicity. The protein β-Ketoacyl-CoA Synthase (EiKCS) encoded by the EiKCS gene promoted the synthesis and metabolism of proteins of the polyamine pathway. Three cofactors CERs were identified and positively correlated with the function of EiKCS on very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) biosynthesis via promoting the polyamine pathway and inhibiting the links with the TCA pathway and fatty acid pathway to responding to the paraquat tolerance in the KCSox rice, which also caused the prolongation of the overproduction of spermine and a transient increase of intracellular malondialdehyde (MDA). These results expanded the polyamines pathway manipulated in cereals using genetic engineering to clarify the mechanism of paraquat-tolerance.

Herbicide Intoxication : Still A Threat In Developing Countries

ABSTRACT The critically ill patient has severe respiratory, cardiovascular or neurological disorder often in combination. The critically ill patient needs intensive care unit (ICU) admission and strict monitoring. Intoxication commonly experienced in a critically ill patient in ICU and can complicate management. In developing countries, poisoning of herbicide still common and used for suicide attempts. Herbicides such as paraquat and glyphosate are often used because of their availability. Paraquat and glyphosate have high mortality rate primarily as a suicide attempt agent in developing countries. The primary target for paraquat toxicity is in the lung and can cause lung fibrosis. Severe glyphosate intoxication can cause dehydration, hypotension, pneumonitis, oliguria, loss of consciousness, liver dysfunction, acidosis, hyperkalemia and dysrhythmia. Diagnosis for herbicide intoxication needs a history of herbicide ingestion, physical examination and laboratory examination. Stabilisation and supportive therapy is the only choice, and there is still no specific treatment for herbicide intoxication. The intoxication of herbicide particular critically ill patient because there is still no such specific treatment for these.

Split-ends is modulating lipid droplet content in adult Drosophila glial cells and is protective against paraquat toxicity

ABSTRACTGlial cells are early sensors of neuronal injury and are able to store lipids in lipid droplets under oxidative stress conditions. Here, we investigated the glial functions of Spen in the context of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Using a data mining approach, we first found that the human ortholog of spen, SPEN/SHARP belongs to the set of astrocyte-expressed genes which mRNA levels are significantly different in the substantia nigra of PD patients as compared to controls. Interestingly, the retrieved list of differentially expressed genes was enriched in genes involved in lipid metabolism. In a Drosophila model of PD, we observed that spen mutant flies were more sensitive to paraquat intoxication. Moreover, the glia-restricted knockdown of spen led to the expansion and the accumulation of lipid droplets as well as the inhibition of Notch pathway. Taken together our results show that Spen regulates lipid metabolism and storage in glial cells and by these means contribute to glia-mediated functions in the context of neurodegeneration.

Therapeutic Intervention of Curcumin on Interleukin-6 and Oxidative Stress Induced by Paraquat Toxicity of Lung and Liver in Rats

Redox equilibrium is altered due to elevation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or inadequate antioxidant defense, therapeutic effects of natural antioxidant such as curcumin (CMN) have been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial effects of curcumin (a natural polyphenol) on oxidative status of lung and liver and assessment of level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in rats against paraquat toxicity. Forty adult male wistar rats were divided into five groups with eight animals each as followed: Group 1: control, Group 2: rats received olive oil. Group 3: rats received curcumin (CMN) (200 mg/kg body weight in olive oil) orally. Group 4 (model group): rats were given a single oral dose of paraquat (PQ) 50 mg/kg body weight dissolved in distilled water intra-peritoneally (I.P) Group 5: rats received CMN orally daily for 10 days prior to PQ administration with the same previous doses and after PQ. After forty eight hours of PQ administration, rats were sacrificed and lung and liver tissues samples were examined for detection of biochemical parameters and histopathological changes. Significant histopathological changes had resulted from PQ administration in lung and liver tissues in addition to significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA), and significant decrease of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione reductase (GR). However, treatment with CMN produced increasing antioxidant markers and depletion of MDA compared to the model group. Also there is significant increase in serum IL-6 after PQ administration compared to control group. However, the level of IL-6 significantly decreased in treated group with curcumin compared to the model group. Curcumin possesses remarkable protection of the altered lung and liver tissues in paraquat intoxicated rats and could reduce the damaging effect by increasing antioxidant activity and decreasing lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress and IL-6.

Paraquat-induced Thrombotic Microangiopathy: The Pathophysiology in Hyperacute Paraquat Poisoning Deaths

This paper described the pathophysiology of suicide deaths from paraquat poisoning which occurred in patients who died in fewer than 24 hours after ingesting paraquat. These deaths were referred to as hyperacute paraquat poisoning deaths. Thrombotic microangiopathy was the predominant pathological finding in all these cases and was evident in the brain, lung, heart, kidneys and in all organs and tissues examined. Of note, diffuse alveolar capillary thrombosis occurred, causing damage to alveolar walls, including those in subpleural locations, resulting in focal visceral pleural rupture leading to pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum in these cases, thus giving rise to yet another mechanism of pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum in paraquat toxicity. Thrombotic microangiopathy is the major pathological mechanism that underlies paraquat poisoning and has not hitherto been reported.