Federico Concetta, Palmieri Cristina, Pappalardo Anna Maria, Ferrito Venera, Pappalardo Matteo, Librando Vito, Saccone Salvatore
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Section of Animal Biology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2016 Sep;23(17):17018-25. doi: 10.1007/s11356-016-6867-y. Epub 2016 May 21.
Agricultural practices are usually supported by several chemical substances, such as herbicides. Linuron and chlorbromuron are phenylurea herbicides largely used to protect crops from weeds, blocking photosynthesis by inhibition of the photosystem II complex. The former, also commercially known as lorox or afalon, is selectively used to protect bean and French bean plants, fennels, and celeriacs; the second, commercially known as maloran, is selectively used for carrots, peas, potatoes, soy sprouts, and sunflowers. Considering the widespread use of herbicides and, more generally, pesticides, it is important to clarify their involvement on human health, one of them concerning the possible direct or indirect effect on the genome of exposed populations. Here, we show that these herbicides are endowed by mutagenic properties, as demonstrated by an increased number of chromosomal aberrations (CAs) in two exposed Chinese hamster cell lines derived from ovary and epithelial liver, respectively. This was also confirmed by sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and micronucleus (MN) assays. Our present and previously obtained data clearly indicate that phenylurea herbicides must be used with great caution, especially for agricultural workers who use large amounts of herbicides during their work, and particular attention should be given to residues of these herbicides and their involvement in environmental pollution.
农业生产活动通常依赖于多种化学物质，如除草剂。利谷隆和氯溴隆是苯基脲类除草剂，主要用于保护作物免受杂草侵害，通过抑制光系统II复合物来阻断光合作用。前者在商业上也被称为洛草隆或阿法隆，被选择性地用于保护豆类、菜豆、茴香和块根芹；后者在商业上被称为马拉松，被选择性地用于胡萝卜、豌豆、土豆、豆芽和向日葵。考虑到除草剂以及更广泛地说农药的广泛使用，阐明它们对人类健康的影响非常重要，其中之一涉及对接触人群基因组可能产生的直接或间接影响。在此，我们表明这些除草剂具有致突变特性，这在分别来源于卵巢和肝上皮的两种中国仓鼠细胞系中染色体畸变（CA）数量增加得到了证明。这也通过姐妹染色单体交换（SCE）和微核（MN）试验得到了证实。我们目前以及之前获得的数据清楚地表明，必须极其谨慎地使用苯基脲类除草剂，尤其是对于在工作中大量使用除草剂的农业工人，并且应该特别关注这些除草剂的残留及其对环境污染的影响。
