Toxic effects of pentachlorophenol, azinphos-methyl and chlorpyrifos on the development of Paracentrotus lividus embryos

Abstract

The application of many current-use pesticides has increased after the disuse of persistent, bioaccumulative or toxic ones as DDT or chlordane. Many of the used pesticides are considered less dangerous towards the environment for their physico-chemical properties. This study investigated the toxic effects of three current-use pesticides, pentachlorophenol (PCP), azinphos-methyl (AZM), and chlorpyrifos, on Mediterranean sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus early development and offspring quality. The experimental results showed that the most toxic pesticides were PCP and AZM at EC50 level. Nevertheless at low concentration PCP resulted the less toxic compound and showed EC1 value more protective than NOEC. PCP at high concentration seemed to modify cytoskeleton assembly, while at low concentrations, it could alter the deposition of the larval skeleton. OPs at low concentrations until 300 μg/l showed a similar toxicological behaviour with a trend corresponding to the pesticide concentrations. At high concentration (500 μg/l) the effect mainly observed was the embryos pre-larval arrest. This investigation highlighted the relevance to evaluate, in coastal seawaters, the levels of the used pesticides to understand the real impact on benthic populations mainly in sites characterized by intensive agriculture or floriculture activities, such as the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

Linking biochemical and individual-level effects of chlorpyrifos, triphenyl phosphate, and bisphenol A on sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) larvae

“…CPF, TPHP, and BPA provoked alterations in the sea urchin larval growth after 48 h of incubation at the tested concentrations. The EC 10 and EC 50 values for larval growth obtained in the present study agree with previous research carried out with sea urchin embryos for CPF (Bellas et al 2005 ; Buono et al 2012 ) and BPA (Kiyomoto et al 2006 ; Özlem and Hatice 2008 ; Tato et al 2018 ), reporting effects at similar concentrations than those reported here. However, no information is available on the toxicity of TPHP on sea urchin embryos and limited toxicological information has been obtained on early stages of aquatic organisms, mainly on zebrafish ( Danio rerio ), reporting effects within the range of 40–29,600 μg/l (geometric mean: 650 μg/l) (e.g., Isales et al 2015 ; Jarema et al 2015 ; Achenbach et al 2020 ).…”

Enhanced Removal of a Pesticides Mixture by Single Cultures and Consortia of Free and ImmobilizedStreptomycesStrains

“…In the present work, this phenomenon could also explain the low PCP removal obtained in comparison to CP removal, although further studies are required to prove it. On the other hand, Buono et al [49], who studied the toxic effects of pesticides of current use (PCP, azinphos-methyl (AZM) and CP) on the development of Paracentrotus lividus embryos, demonstrated that the most toxic pesticides were PCP and AZM at EC50 (median toxic effect concentration 50%) level. They also observed that PCP toxic effects were not significant at concentrations below 0.03 mg L −1 , but at higher concentrations, such as 0.3 mg L −1 ; the effects were significant.…”

Combined Effects of Cadmium and UVB Radiation on Sea Urchin Embryos: Skeleton Impairment Parallels p38 MAPK Activation and Stress Genes Overexpression

“…The jun proteins are a family of basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors present in a wide variety of organisms, including the sea urchin . They are involved in the response to physiological signals and environmental insults, such as Cd and UVB. , As only a very small number of studies have used the sea urchin embryo to evaluate the effects of mixtures of pollutants, i.e., PAHs, heavy metals, and pesticides, the lack of information still persists and major gaps need to be filled.…”