In Vitro Effects of Pesticides on Human Blood

Abstract: Agriculture is the basic source of income and sustenance in India. Due to steep competition and large demand, pesticides are used extensively to increase agricultural yields. However, pesticide use has been documented to lead to adverse health effects. Different segments of the population are exposed to pesticides in different ways and to different degrees. The current work has been undertaken to study the effect of pesticides commonly used in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat on human blood. Erythrocytes are excellent biomembrane modules for the study of interaction of compounds because of their ease of availability and simple isolation methods. The current work was planned to study the toxic effect of pesticides on erythrocyte membrane by using parameters - hemolysis and lipid peroxidation. All the five pesticides caused an increase in hemolysis and lipid peroxidation with increasing concentration. Cypermethrin caused hemolysis even at concentration of 5ìg/mL. Imidacloprid and Cypermethrin caused maximum lipid peroxidation of the erythrocyte membrane. Significant increase in hemolysis was not observed by increasing the incubation time. The amount of MDA formed was maximum when the incubation time was 150 minutes. This indicates that the pesticides may be causing damage to the erythrocyte membrane. To study the oxidative stress cause by the pesticides the levels of glutathione in the erythrocytes were studied. All the five pesticides caused decrease in the levels of glutathione. Cypermethrin and Monocrotophos caused maximum decrease in the levels of glutathione. Least levels of glutathione were found when the incubation time was 150 minutes. This indicates that the pesticides may be involved in causing oxidative stress. All the pesticides caused slight decrease in the activity of serum enzymes. However the decrease in the enzyme activity was almost same for all the concentration.