Evaluation of ameliorative potential of selenium on carbendazim induced oxidative stress in male goats

Vitamin E alleviates pyraclostrobin-induced toxicity in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and its potential mechanisms

Strobilurin fungicides (SFs) are commonly used in agriculture worldwide and frequently detected in aquatic environments. High toxicity of SFs to aquatic organisms has caused great concerns. To explore whether vitamin E (VE) can relieve the toxicity caused by pyraclostrobin (PY), zebrafish were exposed to PY with or without VE supplementation. When co-exposure with VE (20 μM), the 96 h-LC50 values of PY to zebrafish embryos, adult, and the 24 h-LC50 value of PY to larvae increased from 43.94, 58.36 and 38.16 μg/L to 64.72, 108.62 and 72.78 μg/L, respectively, indicating that VE significantly decreased the toxicity of PY to zebrafish at different life stages. In addition, VE alleviated the deformity symptoms (pericardial edema and brain damage), reduced speed and movement distance, and decreased heart rate caused by 40 μg/L PY in zebrafish larvae. Co-exposure of PY with VE significantly reduced PY-caused larval oxidative stress and immunotoxicity via increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and level of glutathione, as well as reducing the malondialdehyde production and the expression levels of Nrf2, Ucp2, IL-8, IFN and CXCL-C1C. Meanwhile, the expression levels of gria4a and cacng4b genes, which were inhibited by PY, were significantly up-regulated after co-exposure of PY with VE. Moreover, co-exposure with VE significantly reversed the increased mitochondrial DNA copies and reduced ATP content caused by PY in larvae, but had no effect on the expression of cox4i1l and activity of complex III that reduced by PY, suggesting VE can partially improve PY-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. In conclusion, the potential mechanisms of VE alleviating PY-induced toxicity may be ascribed to decreasing the oxidative stress level, restoring the functions of heart and nervous system, and improving the immunity and mitochondrial function in zebrafish.

Urinary concentrations of fungicide carbendazim's metabolite and associations with oxidative stress biomarkers in young children

Carbendazim (CBDZ) is the most widely used fungicide in China. It is ubiquitous in environment and can induce oxidative stress in mammals, while data on occurrence of its metabolite in human urine are scarce, and the relationship between CBDZ and oxidative stress biomarkers (OSBs) in young children has not been examined. The aim of this study was to measure the concentrations of methyl 5-hydroxy-2-benzimidazolecarbamate (5-HBC, the main metabolite of CBDZ in urine) in 390 urine samples collected from 130 healthy young (< 6.6 years old) children from Shenzhen and Wuhan, in south and central China, respectively, and to evaluate the associations of 5-HBC with three selected OSBs (4-HNEMA, 8-OHG, and 8-OHdG, for lipid, RNA, and DNA, respectively). 5-HBC was found in 99.2% of the urine samples at concentrations ranging from below the method detection limit (< 0.005 ng/mL) to 10.9 ng/mL (median: 0.11 ng/mL). Moderate inter-day reproducibility was found for specific gravity-adjusted 5-HBC concentrations (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.50). The urinary 5-HBC concentrations were significantly and positively associated with 4-HNEMA (p < 0.01). An interquartile range increase in urinary 5-HBC concentrations was associated with a 42.1% increase in 4-HNEMA, which implied that CBDZ exposure might be associated with lipid peroxidation in young children without occupational exposure. As far as we know, this pilot study is the first to report urinary 5-HBC and its associations with OSBs in children.

Carbendazim toxicity in different cell lines and mammalian tissues

The extensive production and use of harmful pesticides in agriculture to improve crop yield has raised concerns about their potential threat to living components of the environment. Pesticides cause serious environmental and health problems both to humans and animals. Carbendazim (CBZ) is a broad spectrum fungicide that is used to control or effectively kill pathogenic microorganisms. CBZ is a significant contaminant found in food, soil and water. It exerts immediate and delayed harmful effects on humans, invertebrates, aquatic animals and soil microbes when used extensively and repeatedly. CBZ is a teratogenic, mutagenic and aneugenic agent that imparts its toxicity by enhancing generation of reactive oxygen species generation. It elevates the oxidation of thiols, proteins and lipids and decreases the activities of antioxidant enzymes. CBZ is cytotoxic causing hematological abnormalities, mitotic spindle deformity, inhibits mitosis and alters cell cycle events which lead to apoptosis. CBZ is known to cause endocrine-disruption, embryo toxicity, infertility, hepatic dysfunction and has been reported to be one of the leading causes of neurodegenerative disorders. CBZ is dangerous to human health, the most common side effects upon chronic exposure are thyroid gland dysfunction and oxidative hepato-nephrotoxicity. In mammals, CBZ has been shown to disrupt the antioxidant defense system. In this review, CBZ-induced toxicity in different cells, tissues and organisms, under in vitro and in vivo conditions, has been systematically discussed.

An Improved POD Model for Fast Semi-Quantitative Analysis of Carbendazim in Fruit by Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

The current detection method of carbendazim suffers from the disadvantages of complicated preprocessing and long cycle time. In order to solve the problem of rapid quantitative screening of finite contaminants, this article proposed a qualitative method based on characteristic peaks and a semi-quantitative method based on threshold to detect carbendazim in apple, and finally the method is evaluated by a validation system based on binary output. The results showed that the detection limit for carbendazim was 0.5 mg/kg, and the detection probability was 100% when the concentration was no less than 1 mg/kg. The semi-quantitative analysis method had a false positive rate of 0% and 5% at 0.5 mg/kg and 2.5 mg/kg, respectively. The results of method evaluation showed that when the added concentration was greater than 2.5 mg/kg, the qualitative detection method was consistent with the reference method. When the concentration was no less than 5 mg/kg, the semi-quantitative method is consistent between different labs. The semi-quantitative method proposed in this study can achieve the screening of finite contaminants in blind samples and simplify the test validation process through the detection probability model, which can meet the needs of rapid on-site detection and has a good application prospect.

Novel insights into the potential mechanisms underlying carbendazim-induced hepatorenal toxicity in rats

Carbendazim (CBZ) is a common environmental pollutant that can contaminate food and water and severely damage human health. Some studies revealed the adverse effect of CBZ on different organs, but its detailed toxicity mechanism has not been elucidated yet. Thus, the present study aims to clarify the mechanisms of CBZ-induced hepatorenal toxicity in rats. Therefore, we partitioned 40 male Wistar rats into four groups (n = 10): a negative control group and three treatment groups, which received 100, 300, and 600 mg/kg of CBZ. All rats received the treatment daily by oral gavage. We collected blood and organ samples (liver and kidney) at 14 and 28 days postdosing. CBZ caused extensive pathological alterations in both the liver and kidneys, such as cellular degeneration and necrosis accompanied by severe inflammatory reactions in a dose- and time-dependent manner. All the CBZ-treated groups displayed strong tumor necrosis factor-α and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) immunopositivity. Additionally, CBZ dose-dependently elevated the alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, urea, and creatinine serum levels and reduced the serum albumin levels. Furthermore, CBZ-induced apoptosis, as indicated by the observed Bax gene upregulation and Bcl-2 gene downregulation in both organs. All these changes may be related to oxidative stress, as indicated by the increase in malondialdehyde levels and the decrease in total antioxidant capacity. Our results demonstrate that CBZ-induced dose- and time-dependent hepatorenal damage through oxidative stress, which activated both the NF-κB signaling pathway and Bcl-based programmed cell death.

A multicolor enzyme-linked immunoassay method for visual readout of carbendazim

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with high specificity and sensitivity is one of the most popular techniques for detecting carbendazim (CBD), a commonly used benzimidazole fungicide in agriculture. However, the traditional ELISA based on the horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) system for CBD only displays the yellow color of TMB²⁺ from deep to light, making it difficult for the naked eye to judge whether CBD in fruits and vegetables exceeds the maximum residue limit. In this article, we intend to improve the traditional ELISA method to establish a multicolor signal output ELISA to achieve visual semiquantitative detection of CBD. This method is based on the optical properties of gold nanorods (AuNRs). After introducing AuNRs into TMB²⁺ solution, which was produced by the HRP-TMB system of traditional ELISA, AuNRs were quickly etched by TMB²⁺. Consequently, the longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance peak of AuNRs shows a clear blue shift and a vivid color change. Different concentrations of CBD generate different amounts of TMB²⁺, which in turn leads to different etching degrees of AuNRs, and ultimately results in a rainbow-like color change. As a result, CBD from 0.08 to 100 ng mL^-1 can be easily distinguished by the naked eye, which does not require any large instruments. Moreover, the colors displayed by 0.49 ng mL^-1 (purple) and 0 ng mL^-1 (pink) are significantly different from each other. It should be noted that 0.49 ng mL^-1 is far below the most stringent maximum residue limit of CBD in the world. Additionally, the quantitative determination of CBD spiked in canned citrus, citrus fruits, chives, and cabbage samples showed satisfactory recoveries. The good performance of the AuNR-based ELISA makes it have a wide range of application prospects in food safety and international trade.

Fabrication of plasmonic cotton gauze-Ag composite as versatile SERS substrate for detection of pesticides residue

Plasmonic cotton gauze-Ag composite were fabricated through a simple, instant and cost-effective way, in which the Ag NPs were immobilized on the surface of cotton gauze through in-situ growth process. The in-situ growth of Ag NPs was started from electroless-immobilized Ag seeds on the surface of cotton fiber, which could form numerous hot spots for SERS compared with current method. The cotton gauze-Ag composite was employed as versatile substrate in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The plasmonic cotton gauze-Ag exhibited excellent uniformity, temporal stability and enhanced effect for SERS measurement. The detection limit of P-aminothiopheno (PATP) was 10^-8 M. Furthermore, the plasmonic cotton gauze-Ag composite presented excellent flexibility and adsorption capability, which enable to adsorb and detect pesticide residue from irregular surface of cucumber directly by simple swabbing process, the detection limit could achieve 0.1 ppm. The cotton gauze-Ag composite also shown excellent selectivity is SERS sensing. The fabrication method could be simply extended to other cellulose compound, such as absorbent cotton, paper and even for natural fibers. This study proposed a new method for fabricating the cost-effective, eco-friendly and flexible SERS substrates.

Chromatographic Methods for Detection and Quantification of Carbendazim in Food

Carbendazim (CBZ), which is a fungicide widely used for the management of plant diseases, has been detected in a number of food products. The negative effects of CBZ to human health have stimulated the reduction of the maximum residue limits (MRLs), and subsequently the development of reliable and sensitive detection methods. Here, we are reviewing for the first time all reported chromatographic methods for the detection and quantification of CBZ in food. Several techniques, including liquid chromatography (LC), thin layer chromatography (TLC), micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), were used for the separation and detection of CBZ, showing diverse characteristics and sensitivity. Some methods allowed the specific determination of CBZ, whereas other methods were successfully applied for the simultaneous quantification of a huge number of pesticides. Most reported methods showed limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) lower than the MRLs. Relevant efforts in the field have been directed toward the simplification and optimization of the extraction steps prior to the chromatographic separation to increase the recovery and reduce the matrix effects. In this Review, the matrices, extraction procedures, and separation and detection parameters are detailed and compared in order to provide new insights on the development of new reliable methods for the detection of CBZ in food.

Silver-Nanocellulose Composite Used as SERS Substrate for Detecting Carbendazim

Nanocellulose is an abundant green resource that, owing to the larger surface area, length, and diameter of the fibers, can be used as a framework for loading Ag nanoparticles and serve as substrate for surface enhancement Raman scattering (SERS). These properties would cause the hydroxyl groups on the surface to adsorb the Ag ions and reduce them to Ag seed to form a load fulcrum. This paper presents a convenient and environmentally friendly method for the fabrication of silver-nanocellulose composites (NCF-Ag). A commonly used pesticide, carbendazim (CBZ), was used as a SERS probe to evaluate the properties of NCF-Ag. The results showed that NCF-Ag possesses good homogeneity, reproducibility, and stability. Additionally, CBZ was found to have a low limit of detection (LOD), i.e., 1.0 × 10⁻⁸ M, which indicates the possibility for trace analysis. Furthermore, it presents good linearity with R² = 0.98 at 1007 and 1270 cm⁻¹ in the range from 10⁻⁴~10⁻⁷ M CBZ.

Evaluation of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status on fenvalerate, nitrate and their co-exposure in Bubalus bubalis

The toxic effects of pesticides and minerals have been explored in different species, but still there is paucity of information regarding their combined toxicological effects. The present investigation reports oxidative stress induced by oral subacute exposure to fenvalerate (1 mg/kg) and sodium nitrate (20 mg/kg) alone, as well as in combination daily for 21 days in buffalo calves. Fenvalerate exposure produced significant elevation in lipid peroxidation (LPO), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), while it produced significant decline in blood glutathione (GSH) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). No significant alteration was evidenced in nitric oxide (NOx) levels. Oral exposure to sodium nitrate produced significant inclination in LPO and NOx, while on the other hand significant depreciation in SOD and CAT with no significant change in GPx activity. Combined exposure to fenvalerate and sodium nitrate produced severe effects with an appreciably more prominent elevation in extent of LPO and decline in blood GSH levels.