Atrazine and Human Health

Herbicides in Camps Bay (Cape Town, South Africa), supplemented

“…Upon discharge of these chemicals into themarine environment, they are dispersed into the water, and may accumulate in sediments and marine organisms. Exposure to a herbicide such as atrazine has been associated with severe health problems in humans, such as low fetus and heart weight, birth defects, limb defects, neurologic diseases, cancers, urinary defects, dermatologic diseases, and respiratory disorders (ATSDR, 2003;Ochoa-Acuña et al, 2009;Pathak and Dikshit, 2012;Rinsky et al, 2012). It is therefore important to fully understand their distribution and concentration in all matrices of the marine environment (Amdany et al, 2014;Tiemann, 2008).…”

Which exposure stage (gestation or lactation) is more vulnerable to atrazine toxicity? Studies on mouse dams and their pups

“…With regard to fetal and childhood exposures, the US Department of Health and Human Services arrived at a conclusion that it is not known whether ATZ or its metabolites can be transferred from a pregnant mother to a developing fetus through the placenta or from a nursing mother to her offspring through breast milk [19] . In their article, Pathak and Dikshit [17] reported the same ATSDR's awareness. However, Stoker et al [20] found that 3 h following administration of 14 C-ATZ to the Wistar rat, there was a distribution of 14 C-chlorotriazines (14C-ClTRI) [refer to all residues of the initial dose of 14 C atrazine], to the organs of the dam, with the highest amounts in the liver and kidney (1.1 and 0.3% of the administered dose, respectively).…”

“…It is an endocrine disrupting chemical interrupting regular hormone function and alters reproductive function not only in human [10] , but also in many other species such as developing alligators [11] , birds [12] , goat [13] , and as most vulnerable amphibians [14] , [15] and fish [16] , causing birth defects, reproductive tumors, and weight loss in amphibians as well as humans. It also causes induction of the detoxifying hepatic microsomal oxidative enzymes, continual synthesis of esterases, physiological adaptation to decreased esterase levels, and adaptation of cholinergic receptors [17] . Thus, interfering with the biochemical pathways mechanisms including reproductive functions as a whole and also gene expression changes, ATZ inevitably affects biodiversity and causes environmental havoc [18] .…”

Atrazine Genotoxicity on Human Placental Cells

“…Human placental cell line was cultured in DMEM medium supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 100 mg/mL streptomycin and 100 units/mL penicillin at 37 °C in a humidified incubator in an atmosphere of 5% CO 2 . Cells were seeded in 96-well plates (10 3 -10 4 cells/well) for 24 hours incubation, cell viability was evaluated using MTT assay as described by Cui et al 9 .In brief, cells were treated with atrazine at a various concentration 0, 1, 10, 30 µM/ml for 24 hours and untreated cells served as a control. Prior to determination, 10 µL MTT (2.5 g/L) was added to each well.…”