Tarboush Nafez Abu, Almomani Duaa H, Khabour Omar F, Azzam Muayad I
School of Medicine, 54658The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, 37251Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
Int J Toxicol. 2022 Mar-Apr;41(2):126-131. doi: 10.1177/10915818211073514. Epub 2022 Mar 3.
Glyphosate-based herbicides are the most used herbicides in the world. Despite being widely used, a dispute exists whether glyphosate-based herbicides have a negative effect on human health, particularly genotoxic effects. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate glyphosate genotoxicity on cultured human lymphocytes. Cultured human lymphocytes were treated with different concentrations of glyphosate (20, 40, and 200 µmol/L). Four toxicity measures were examined: frequency of chromosomal aberrations (CAs), frequency of sister-chromatid exchange (SCE), production of 8-OHdG, and cell kinetics analysis. The results show that glyphosate induced significant ( < 0.05) increases in the levels of SCE at the highest used concentration (200 μmol/L). However, no significant elevation in SCE levels was observed at the lower examined concentrations (20 and 40 μmol/L). No significant changes in CA were detected at all examined concentrations ( = 0.86). Also, glyphosate did not induce changes to the normal level of 8-OHdG at all examined concentrations ( = 0.98). Last, no significant changes in either mitotic index or proliferative index were observed at any examined concentrations ( > 0.05). The results collectively indicate a lack of genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of glyphosate in cultured human lymphocytes when dealing with environmentally relevant concentrations (20 and 40 μmol/L). However, being exposed to higher concentrations (200 μmol/L) led to slightly higher level of SCE. Therefore, we recommend cautionary measures when dealing with glyphosate-based herbicides for individuals, such as farmers, who may be extensively exposed to high concentrations of these herbicides.
草甘膦基除草剂是世界上使用最广泛的除草剂。尽管被广泛使用，但对于草甘膦基除草剂是否对人类健康有负面影响，尤其是遗传毒性作用，仍存在争议。因此，本研究的目的是调查草甘膦对培养的人淋巴细胞的遗传毒性。用不同浓度的草甘膦（20、40和200μmol/L）处理培养的人淋巴细胞。检测了四项毒性指标：染色体畸变（CA）频率、姐妹染色单体交换（SCE）频率、8-羟基脱氧鸟苷（8-OHdG）的产生以及细胞动力学分析。结果表明，在最高使用浓度（200μmol/L）下，草甘膦诱导SCE水平显著（<0.05）升高。然而，在较低检测浓度（20和40μmol/L）下，未观察到SCE水平有显著升高。在所有检测浓度下，均未检测到CA有显著变化（=0.86）。此外，在所有检测浓度下，草甘膦均未诱导8-OHdG的正常水平发生变化（=0.98）。最后，在任何检测浓度下，有丝分裂指数或增殖指数均未观察到显著变化（>0.05）。这些结果共同表明，在处理环境相关浓度（20和40μmol/L）时，草甘膦对培养的人淋巴细胞缺乏遗传毒性和细胞毒性。然而，暴露于较高浓度（200μmol/L）会导致SCE水平略有升高。因此，我们建议对于可能大量接触高浓度此类除草剂的个体，如农民，在使用草甘膦基除草剂时应采取谨慎措施。
