Pesticide-induced oxidative stress in the native reptil species Caiman latirostris

POLETTA, GISELA L.; SIROSKI, PABLO A.; KLEINSORGE, ELISA C.; MUDRY, MARTA D.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; VIII International Congress of the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine; 2013

Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine - South American Group (SFRBM-SAG)

Many pesticides can produce toxicity to organisms by the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS include free radicals and other highly reactive forms of oxygen. Cell damage caused by an excess of ROS is defined as oxidative stress. In excess, ROS can overwhelm the normal antioxidant buffering capacity of the cell, leading to significant damage to cellular components, including proteins, lipids and DNA. No previous report existed on the application of oxidative stress techniques on C. latirostris, so recently we adapted conventional techniques to be applied in blood of these species: 1) damage to lipids by TBARS, 2) damage to DNA by Comet assay modified with enzymes FPG and ENDO III, 3) antioxidant defense capacity by Catalase and reduced-oxidized glutathione relationship (GSH/GSSG). In the present work we applied these techniques as biomarkers of oxidative stress induced by pesticides in broad snouted caiman under experimental and environmental exposure conditions. Animals exposed to pesticides showed oxidative damage evidenced by lipid peroxidation and oxidation to DNA, as well as alteration in antioxidant defense systems in comparison with controls (P