Histopatological effects of the herbicide atrazine on ovary and hepatopancreas of the estuarine crab Neohelice granulata

SILVEYRA, GABRIELA R.; CANOSA, IVANA S.; MAC LOUGHLIN, CAMILA; RODRIGUEZ, ENRIQUE M; MEDESANI, DANIEL A.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; SETAC Latin America 11th Biennial Meeting; 2015

SETAC Latinoamerica

Adult females (10.86±0.08 g) of the estuarine crab Neohelice granulata  were exposedfor 90 d (June to September) to Gesaprim90®, at 0.05, 0.5 and 5 mg/Lof atrazine as active principle in the commercial formulation. A control groupwith no atrazine added was also run.  Fifteenanimals were randomly assigned to each treatment. Each female was isolated in aglass recipient filled with 400 mL of artificial saline water, at 12 g/L, undercontinuous aeration and controlled conditions of temperature (22 ºC) andphotoperiod (14:10 L:D). During the assay, animals were fed three times a weekwith food pellets and fresh leaves of Elodea sp., renewing alltest solutions twice a week. At the end of the assay, the ovary andhepatopancreas of all females were dissected, weighed and fixing in Bouin solution for histologicalprocessing. Females exposed to thehighest concentration of atrazine showed a gonadosomatic index 50% lower thanthat of control females. Histological analysis indicated that females exposedto the same atrazine concentration had a reduced proportion of vitellogenicoocytes with respect to control, together with a significantly (p<0.05)higher proportion of reabsorbed oocytes. These results suggest an inhibition ofovarian growth by atrazine as a possible endocrine disrupter, in accordancewith previous studies recently published. No differences were observed amongtreatments concerning the hepatopancreatic index. The analysis ofhepatopancreatic cell types indicated a significant (p<0.05) reduction inthe proportion of F-cells, in females exposed to 5 mg/l of atrazine.