PESTICIDE EXPOSURE IMPACT ON THE MOTHER-PLACENTA-FETUS TRIAD

GUIÑAZU ALANIZ, NATALIA LORENA

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXIV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion Clínica (SAIC) - Reunión Anual de Sociedades de Biociencias 2019; 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion Clinica

Pesticides are substances designed to kill, repel, or control plants, insects and animals considered to be pests and that impact negatively on agricultural productivity. Once released to the environment a small amount impact on the amended pest, while the rest gain access to the soil, water and air. In rural populations, the proximity to these areas of intensive pesticide application is a risk factor favoring xenobiotic exposure. Potential health effects associated with pesticide exposure during pregnancy have become a major public health concern due to maternal and fetal high sensitivities. The High Valley of Río Negro and Neuquén provinces is the Argentine region with the largest agricultural fruit production. The insecticide families mostly used are organophosphates ?OP- (chlorpyrifos), carbamates (carbofuran and pirimicarb), and neonicotinoids ?NEO- (thiacloprid and acetamiprid).Pregnant women residing in rural locations (Plottier, Centenario, General Roca, Cipolletti, Cinco Saltos) and inNeuquén city, were included in different study groups from 2008 to the present. Matrices analyzed were maternal blood, placenta and umbilical cord blood. Changes in the classical pesticide exposure biomarkers as acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase and carboxylesterases activities, in the non-classical biomarkers of oxidative stress (glutathione content, antioxidant enzyme activity, genotoxic damage), and in hormone levels were observed between groups. We demonstrated that the three matrices studied are impacted in the population residing in these rural locations. The placenta systems such as the cholinergic, mitochondria bioenergetics and steroidogenic function were recognized to be important targets of pesticide toxicity in environmental exposure scenarios. Toxic effects of different pesticides families OP and NEO were also confirmed in human trophoblast cell lines, at concentration levels representative of human environmental exposure.