Influence of Profenofos on Selected Biochemical Parameters in the Liver of Albino Rat

As new applications for many organophosphate (OP) compounds are discovered, the use of OP compounds has gained importance and this trend is like to continue in the years ahead. In many developing countries, particularly in India, pesticides are being indiscriminately used at every stage to kill a variety of pests that cause harm to agricultural crops. Unfortunately these pesticides are causing lot of metabolic disturbances to the non-target organisms and human beings in particular. Profenofos, an OP insecticide is used on a variety of crops Lepidopterans and mites. It is especially used to control various white flies’ effect on vegetables. It is also used extensively in household applications. Hence the objective of the present study is to examine the effect of 1/10 of LD50 of Profenofos (i.e 39.5mg/kg body weight) was studied in the liver with reference to the important metabolites and enzymes of protein metabolism in Albino rat after exposure to 10, 20 and 30 days respectively. All the experimental male Albino rats were administered with 39.5mg/kg body weight orally with an interval of 48h. The experiment was carried out for 30 days. Animals were randomly divided into four groups. The first group served as control. Second group of animals were exposed to Profenofos for 10 days, third and fourth groups of animals were exposed for 20 days and 30 days respectively. From the results it is clear that continuous exposure to Profenofos alters important parameters of protein metabolism. Total proteins showed a decrement in Profenofos exposed groups while the rest of the parameters showed an increase and this increase was more in 30 days when compared to 20 days and 10 days administered groups. All the parameters studied in the present investigation were severely affected in Profenofos exposed Albino rats. *Corresponding author M. RAJENDRA SINGH Division of Toxicology, Dept. of Zoology S.V. University, Tirupati Int J Pharm Bio Sci 2015 Jan; 6(1): (B) 826 831 This article can be downloaded from www.ijpbs.net B 827 INTRODUCTION OP compounds have been used widely for several decades in agriculture for crop protection and pest control, thousands of these compounds have been screened and more than one hundred of them have been marketed for these purposes. OP compounds are arguably one of the most common causes of insecticide poisoning worldwide. In developing countries like India, OP compounds are not only cheap but also easily available and hence these compounds are a constant source of both intentional and unintentional poisoning. Of late the use of OP compounds has gained more importance than before and this trend is likely to continue in the years ahead, because new applications for these compounds have been discovered . Indiscriminate and excessive use of these pesticides is a major concern to non-target organisms, thus the use of pesticides has become a great concern worldwide . The majority of OP insecticides can be grouped according to their chemical structure as a dimethoxy OP [with two O–C2H5 groups attached to the phosphorus that binds to and inhibits acetylcholinesterase] or a dimethoxy OP (with two O–CH3 groups). The identity of these alkyl groups has fundamental effects on the pharmacodynamics of poisoning and treatment, determining to a large extent whether oximes effectively reactivate OPinhibited AChE . However, a few OP insecticides do not fit into these categories, including profenofos and prothiofos. Both are highly lipid soluble, moderately toxic OP insecticides. They have an S-alkyl (S–C3H7) group attached to the phosphorus, in addition to the more typical O–C2H5 group. The consequences of this structure are not clearly understood. We therefore studied the sublethal effect of Profenos on important protein metabolites and enzymes in the liver of Albino rats exposed for 30 days. Profenofos (O-(4bromo-2-chlorophenyl) O-ethyl S-propyl phosphorothioate) is a moderately hazardous (class II) pesticide by WHO broad spectrum insecticide extensively used for the control of various caterpillars, white fly and mites on cotton and vegetable crops. It is used in household applications and causes severe environmental pollution. Effect of Profenofos on animal occurs through food and water. Profenofos is a potentially ground water contaminating insecticide, slightly soluble in water and readily miscible in organic solvents. The substance is hydrolyzed with increasing pH and moreover the half-life of Profenofos in soil is about one week. This property of Profenofos makes it a better choice for spray as compared to organochlorines, which are more persistent. Profenofos is highly toxic to aquatic organisms, zooplankton, crustaceans and insects. It is moderately toxic to birds and less toxic for mammals.The toxicity caused by Profenofos appears fatal even at a fairly low plasma concentration as recorded in a case of fatal human poisoning where low concentrations of metabolites were detected suggesting that Profenofos is rapidly metabolized. Profenofos induces apoptosis and necrosis in cultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes in in vitro conditions . Profenofos can induce oxidative stress which may be used as a diagnostic index in Profenofos poisoning . The effect of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, scavenging enzymes and glutathione in the brain of the Albino rats were also studied . Although there are many clinical reports on the effect of OP compounds, yet information pertaining to the effect of Profenofos poisoning is limited. Hence, in the present investigation of various parameters pertaining to the protein metabolism were evaluated in the liver of Profenofos exposed Albino rats. The present study clearly indicates that continuous exposure to Profenofos seriously impairs protein metabolism in the liver of Albino rats. Int J Pharm Bio Sci 2015 Jan; 6(1): (B) 826 831 This article can be downloaded from www.ijpbs.net B 828 MATERIALS AND METHODS Test Chemical Profenofos (94.0% purity) was obtained from Nagarjuna Agrichem. Limited,Hyderabad, A.P., India Animal and Experimental Design The protocol was approved by Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, S.V. University (Resolution No. 8a/20122013/(i)a/CPCSEA/IAEC/SVU/PJD-MRS/dt. 12-2012). Male adult Albino rats of 7 weeks old and weighing 200 ± 10 g. were obtained from Indian Institute of Science (I.I.Sc), Bangalore. They were housed at an ambient temperature 28 ± 2°C in a 12-h light/dark cycle and a minimum humidity of 40%. The animals had free access to commercial pellet diet supplied by Sai Durga Feeds and Foods, Bangalore, India and water ad libitium. All the male healthy adult Albino rats were randomly divided into four groups having with six rats per group. The first group animals were considered as control animals. Second group of animals were treated with Profenofos via oral gavage (39.5 mg/Kg body weight) for 10 days, third and fourth groups of animals were administered for 20 and 30 days with an interval of 48h respectively. Biochemical estimations The total protein content was estimated by the method of Lowry et al. . Free amino acid content was estimated by the method described by Colowick and Kaplan . Protease activity was estimated by the method of Moore and Stein 14 considering the amount of free amino acids liberated from the protein substances as a measure of proteolytic activity. The activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALAT) was assayed by the method described by Bergmeyer . The activity of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) was assayed by the method of Lee and Lardy . Ammonia was estimated by the method of Bergmeyer . Urea was estimated by the diacetylmonoxime method as described by Natelson . Statistical treatment The data was subjected to One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and post ANOVA tests (S-N-K test) using SPSS (ver. 20) in the personal computer and p < 0.01 was considered as statistically significant.