The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism for pharmacological and toxicological bioassays

SILVA F ; MANETTI M; MIGLIORE ML; M.F. KRONBERG,; GOLOMBEK D; ROTA R; MUNARRIZ, ER.; SILVA F ; MANETTI M; MIGLIORE ML; M.F. KRONBERG,; GOLOMBEK D; ROTA R; MUNARRIZ, ER.

Rosario

Congreso; Second Latin American Worm Meeting; 2020

A wide variety of model organisms, such as Caenorhabditis elegans Drosophila melanogaster and Danio rerio Zebrafish are used to study longevity, toxicity and pharmacology, both in basic and applied research In this type of studies, locomotor activity is a commonly used tool that allows to evaluate the effect of different drugs on the behavior of these organisms We use the powerful modelorganism C elegans for the development of bioassays to evaluate potential toxic and motor effects of molecules with industrial interest To this end, a toxicity protocol was developed and standardized in order to analyze the effect of different drugs on the global activity of animals In this work, we present a pilot screening of 5 pesticides commonly used in the agricultural sector to test for toxic effects in C elegans Nematode populations were treated with increasing concentrations of Glyphosate, 2 4 D, Paraquat, Chlorpyrifos and Lambda Cyhalothrin, and behavioral outcomes were quantified by recording the global motility using an infrared tracking device Wmicrotracker We found a significant reduction in locomotor activity of the nematodes treated with pesticides compared to the control Furthermore, we found that the EC 50 (mg/ for different pesticides were 1 7 10 1 0 5 0 005 and 0 1 for Glyphosate, 2 4 D, Paraquat, Chlorpyrifos and Lambda Cyhalothrin respectively. On the other hand, different pesticides toxicity was evaluated by measuring the body length of the nematodes The results show that C elegans growth was inhibited by the presence of the different pesticides We found that the EC 50 (mg/ were 1 3 0 3 0 1 4 8 x 10 4 and 0 4 for Glyphosate, 2 4 D, Paraquat, Chlorpyrifos and Lambda Cyhalothrin respectively. In summary, our results confirm that the C elegans bioassay is a sensitive and suitable tool to assess toxicity and should be implemented in environmental toxicology