Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;29(1):936-948.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-15537-3. Epub 2021 Aug 3.

Oxidative stress, apoptosis and histopathological alterations in brain stem and diencephalon induced by subacute exposure to fipronil in albino rats

Mohamed A Awad  1 , Zainab Sabry Othman Ahmed  2 , Huda O AbuBakr  3 , Gehad Abd El-Fattah Hassan Elbargeesy  1 , Moukhtar H G Moussa  1
Affiliations

Oxidative stress, apoptosis and histopathological alterations in brain stem and diencephalon induced by subacute exposure to fipronil in albino rats

Mohamed A Awad et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Fipronil (FIP) is a highly effective insecticide that has been used in agriculture and veterinary medicine. Its neurotoxic effect to insects and to non-target organisms, after nonintentional exposure, was reported. Many studies were conducted to evaluate FIP effects on mammals. However, slight is known about its effect on the brain stem and diencephalon. The current study was designed to investigate the ability of FIP to induce oxidative stress as a molecular mechanism of FIP neurotoxicity that resulted in apoptosis and neural tissue reactivity in these regions. Ten adult male rats received 10 mg/kg of FIP technical grade by oral gavage, daily for 45 days. Brain stem and diencephalon were processed to examine oxidative stress-induced macromolecular alteration (MDA, PCC and DNA fragmentation). Also, the histopathological assessment and immunoreactivity for caspase-3 (active form), iNOS and GFAP were performed on the thalamus, hypothalamus and medulla oblongata. Our results revealed that FIP significantly raised MDA, PCC and DNA fragmentation (p ≤ 0.05). In addition, significantly increased immunoreactivity to GFAP, iNOS and caspase-3 (active form) in the FIP-treated group was noticed (p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, alterations in the histoarchitecture of the neural tissue of these regions were observed. We conclude that FIP can induce oxidative stress, leading to apoptosis and tissue reaction in brain stem and diencephalon.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Brain regions; Fipronil; Neurotoxicity; Oxidative stress; Tissue reaction.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abdel-Daim MM (2016) Synergistic protective role of ceftriaxone and ascorbic acid against subacute diazinon-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. Cytotechnology 68:279–289 - DOI
    1. Abdel-Daim MM, Abdeen A (2018) Protective effects of rosuvastatin and vitamin E against fipronil-mediated oxidative damage and apoptosis in rat liver and kidney. Food Chem Toxicol 114:69–77 - DOI
    1. Abdel-Daim MM, Shaheen HM, Abushouk AI, Toraih EA, Fawzy MS, Alansari WS, Aleya L, Bungau S (2018) Thymoquinone and diallyl sulfide protect against fipronil-induced oxidative injury in rats. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:23909–23916 - DOI
    1. Abdel-Rahman A, Abou-Donia SM, El-Masry EM, Shetty AK, Abou-Donia MB (2004) Stress and combined exposure to low doses of pyridostigmine bromide, DEET, and permethrin produce neurochemical and neuropathological alterations in cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum. J Toxic Environ Health A 67:163–192 - DOI
    1. Abou-Zeid SM, Abubakr HO, Mohamed MA, El-Bahrawy A (2018) Ameliorative effect of pumpkin seed oil against emamectin induced toxicity in mice. Biomed Pharmacother 98:242–251 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources