Department of Biology, Cell Biology Division, Friedrich-Alexander University, Staudtstrasse 5, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.
Ecotoxicology. 2011 Aug;20(6):1442-54. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0701-6. Epub 2011 May 12.
Pesticides are toxic chemicals used for agricultural as well as non-agricultural purposes. The toxicity of pesticides does not remain limited to the site of application but they also cause toxicity to non-target organisms in terrestrial as well as in aquatic environments. This study discusses the comparative toxicity of a carbamate (carbofuran) and an organophosphorus (malathion) pesticide to the freshwater flagellate Euglena gracilis during short- and long-term exposures. To evaluate the toxicity of the pesticides, different parameters of the flagellate, like cell density, motility, swimming velocity, cell shape, gravitactic orientation, photosynthetic efficiency, and concentration of light harvesting pigments, were used as end points. Carbofuran was found to be more toxic to E. gracilis than malathion and adversely affected almost all the tested parameters in short- and long-term experiments. The only significant adverse effect by malathion could be demonstrated on the swimming velocity of cells in short-term experiments. The adverse effects of the pesticides were more pronounced during short-term than during long-term exposure.
农药是用于农业和非农业目的的有毒化学物质。农药的毒性不仅限于施药地点，而且还会对陆地和水生环境中的非靶标生物造成毒性。本研究讨论了一种氨基甲酸酯（克百威）和一种有机磷（马拉硫磷）农药对淡水鞭毛藻 Euglena gracilis 的短期和长期暴露的比较毒性。为了评估农药的毒性，使用了鞭毛藻的不同参数，如细胞密度、运动性、游动速度、细胞形状、向重力性取向、光合作用效率和光捕获色素的浓度，作为终点。克百威对 E. gracilis 的毒性比马拉硫磷更强，并且在短期和长期实验中几乎对所有测试参数都产生了不利影响。在短期实验中，仅能证明马拉硫磷对细胞游动速度有显著的不利影响。在短期暴露期间，农药的不良影响比长期暴露期间更为明显。
