Role of biomarkers in evaluating interactions among mixtures of lead or cadmium and chlorpyrifos
Kawther EL-Gendy, Entsar Rabea, Mostafa Abbassay and Abdel Khalek EL-Sebae
Alexandria University, Egypt
: Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol 2015, 4:3
Abstract
A toxicological interaction is a circumstance in which exposure to two or more chemicals results in qualitatively or quantitively altered biological response relative to that predicted from the actions of a single chemical. The present study was carried out to investigate the in vivo neurological, biological and hematological effects of organophosphorus insecticide; chlorpyrifos and heavy metals (lead or cadmium) on in the albino rats at various time intervals (1 hr and 1, 10 and 20 days). These pollutants were used individually or in combination. The studied parameters included blood picture (erythrocytes and leukocytes counts, hemoglobin content and packed cell volume), muscarinic cholinergic receptors as well as some enzymes such as delta amino levulinic acid dehydratase (δ-ALAD), acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) and Na+,K+–adenosine triphosphatase (Na+,K+–ATPase). The results demonstrated that chlorpyrifos alone caused significant inhibition of AChE and significant decrease of muscarinic cholinergic receptors, while it did not show any potential to inhibit Na+,K+–ATPase and did not change the blood picture of animals. On the other hand, lead or cadmium alone showed the ability to inhibit AChE, δ- ALAD as well as Na+,K+–ATPase and cause changes in blood pictures while it slightly reduced the muscarinic cholinergic receptors. The combination of chlorpyrifos with heavy metals caused striking effect on all tested targets.