Department of Human, Philosophic and Education Sciences (DISUFF), University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy.
Department of Biology, University Federico II, Via Cintia 21, 80126 Napoli, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Apr 27;23(9):4850. doi: 10.3390/ijms23094850.
The expansion of agriculture produces a steady increase in habitat fragmentation and degradation due to the increased use of pesticides and herbicides. Habitat loss and alteration associated with crop production play an important role in reptile decline, among which lizards are particularly endangered. In this study, we evaluated testicular structure, steroidogenesis, and estrogen receptor expression/localization after three weeks of oral exposure to glyphosate at 0.05 and 0.5 μg/kg body weight every other day in the field lizard . Our results show that glyphosate affected testicular morphology, reduced spermatogenesis, altered gap junctions and changed the localization of estrogen receptors in germ cells, increasing their expression; the effects were mostly dose-dependent. The result also demonstrates that glyphosate, at least at these concentrations, did not influence steroidogenesis. Overall, the data indicate that this herbicide can disturb the morphophysiology of the male lizard's reproductive system, with obviously detrimental effects on their reproductive fitness. The effects of glyphosate must be considered biologically relevant and could endanger the reproductive capacity not only of lizards but also of other vertebrates, including humans; a more controlled and less intensive use of glyphosate in areas devoted to crop production would therefore be advisable.
农业的扩张导致栖息地的破碎化和退化不断增加，这是由于农药和除草剂的使用增加所致。与作物生产相关的栖息地丧失和改变在爬行动物的减少中起着重要作用，其中蜥蜴尤其受到威胁。在这项研究中，我们评估了睾丸结构、类固醇生成和雌激素受体表达/定位，方法是在野外蜥蜴中，每隔一天口服暴露于 0.05 和 0.5μg/kg 体重的草甘膦 3 周。我们的结果表明，草甘膦影响睾丸形态，减少精子发生，改变缝隙连接，并改变生殖细胞中雌激素受体的定位，增加其表达；这些影响大多是剂量依赖性的。结果还表明，草甘膦至少在这些浓度下不影响类固醇生成。总体而言，数据表明这种除草剂会干扰雄性蜥蜴生殖系统的形态生理学，对其生殖适应性产生明显的不利影响。草甘膦的影响必须被认为具有生物学相关性，并且不仅会危及蜥蜴的生殖能力，还会危及包括人类在内的其他脊椎动物的生殖能力；因此，在专门用于作物生产的地区，应更谨慎地使用和控制草甘膦。
