Cytotoxic effects of etephon and maleic hydrazide in Vero, Hep2, HepG2 cells.

The toxicity of etephon and maleic hydrazide, used as plant growth regulators in agriculture, were reported as low in mammals in previous studies. However, in vitro cytotoxicity studies in mammalian cells are currently missing to understand their toxicity at molecular level. In the current study, the cytotoxicity of these compounds, were studied in Vero (African green monkey kidney epithelium), HepG2 (human hepatocellular carcinoma), Hep2 (human epidermoid cancer) cells by MTT ((3-(4,5-dimetiltiazol-2-il)-2,5-difeniltetrazolium bromure) and LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) assays. Maleic hydrazide had lower IC50 values for all cell lines compared to ethephon. Least cytotoxic effect treated by ethephon were observed in Vero, followed by HepG2 and Hep2. Similarly maleic hydrazide also showed least cytotoxicity on Vero cells, followed by Hep2 and HepG2 cells (p < 0.05). IC50 values in general were found to be highest in Vero cells, followed by HepG2 and Hep2 cells (p < 0.05). LDH and MTT assays showed correllation and had close relation except HepG2-maleic hydrazide application with the correlation coefficient for all >0.868 (p < 0.05). This study is expected to be a basis to understand the cytotoxic effects of ethephon and maleic hydrazide in mammal cells to be supplemented by further studies.

Cytotoxic effects of Eryngium kotschyi and Eryngium maritimum on Hep2, HepG2, Vero and U138 MG cell lines.

CONTEXT: Eryngium maritimum L. and the endemic Eryngium kotschyi Boiss. of the Apiaceae family are used for antiinflammatory, antivenom, antinociceptive and diuretic purposes in folk medicine in Turkey. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the cytotoxic effects of the plant extracts belonging to Eryngium L. genus on various cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cytotoxic activites of the lyophilized aqueous aereal and root parts of the plant extracts on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2), human laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma (Hep2), human glioma (U138-MG) and African green monkey kidney epithelial (Vero) cell lines at 8.33-266.62 µg/ml concentrations were analyzed by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) (MTT) cell viability assays. RESULTS: Inhibitory concentration 50 (IC50) values were found <100 µg/ml in most cases varying around 16.33-125.66 µg/ml. IC50 values for E. kostchyi and E. maritimum root parts on Hep2 cells (32.86 and 30.25 µg/ml, respectively), E. kotschyi aereal, E. maritimum aereal and root parts on HepG2 cells (31.75, 32.42 and 35.01 µg/ml, respectively) by MTT assay were found to be close to the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) recommendations (IC50 < 30 µg/ml) to define the antivity aganist cancer cells. The lowest IC50 values according to the LDH method were observed in Hep2 cells and the highest in U138-MG cells. Root parts were found to be more toxic than aereal parts for both plants in both methods in general. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Both plant extracts exerted cytotoxic activity aganist Hep2 and HepG2 cells, with low IC50 values defining their promising anticancer property according to NCI; however, further analysis are needed to confirm their activity.

The effect of chlorpyrifos on isolated thoracic aorta in rats.

This study investigated the effect of chlorpyrifos on thoracic aorta and on the level of NO in plasma and aorta. The effect of chlorpyrifos on thoracic aorta in organ bath was determined in 10 rats. Another 45 rats were assigned to 3 groups with 15 rats each: control group 1 received distilled water, control group 2 was given corn oil, and the last group was given 13.5 mg/kg chlorpyrifos dissolved in corn oil every other day for 8 weeks orally. Chlorpyrifos (10(-10) M-10(-5) M) showed no effect on isolated thoracic aorta. Plasma AChE activity was decreased, while LDH, ALT, GGT, and AST activities were increased in chlorpyrifos group compared to control groups. Plasma NO level was increased in chlorpyrifos group compared to control groups. iNOS expression was present in all groups in the cytoplasm of the endothelia and in the smooth muscle cells of aorta. According to semiquantitative histomorphological analysis, iNOS immunopositive reactions were seen in the decreasing order in chlorpyrifos, control 2, and control 1 groups. eNOS immunopositive reactions were observed in the endothelial cell cytoplasm, rarely in the subintimal layer, and the smooth muscle cells of aorta. There were no differences among the groups in terms of eNOS immunostaining. In conclusion, chlorpyrifos induced NO production in aorta following an increase in NOS expression.

Metal levels in organically and conventionally produced animal and vegetable products in Turkey.

Lead, cadmium, copper, zinc and iron levels were determined in organically and conventionally produced wheat, green lentils, flower honey and eggs that are supplied on different markets in Ankara, Turkey. Their toxicological and nutritional values were compared with national and international limits and literature data. The levels of cadmium and lead in conventionally and organically produced wheat, green lentils, honey and egg were below the limit of detection (LOD), whereas the level of copper was only below LOD in honey and eggs. The levels of Zn and Cu were found to be higher in conventionally produced wheat samples than organically produced ones; whereas the level of Fe in organic products was found to be higher than the conventional products.

Investigation of in vitro effects of ethephon and chlorpyrifos, either alone or in combination, on rat intestinal muscle contraction.

A range of pesticides is widely used in pest management and the chances of exposure to multiple organophosphorus (OP) compounds simultaneously are high, especially from dietary and other sources. Although health hazards of individual OP insecticides have been relatively well characterized, there is lesser information on the interactive toxicity of multiple OP insecticides. The aim of this study is to elicit the possible interactions in case combined exposure of an OP pesticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) and a plant growth regulator ethephon (ETF) which are used worldwide. The ileum segments of 3 months old Wistar Albino male rats were used in isolated organ bath containing Tyrode solution. ETF and CPF were incubated (10(-7) M concentration) separately or in combination with each other to ileum and their effects on acetylcholine-induced contractions were studied. The data obtained from this study show that, single and combined exposure to the agents caused agonistic interactions with regard to potency of ACh whereas they caused a decrease on E(max) value of ACh. These findings suggest that exposure to these agents which have direct and indirect cholinergic effects, may cause developing clinical responses with small doses and earlier but the extent of toxicity will be lower.

The effect of levamisole on sheep trachea alone and with trichlorfon combination.

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of levamisole and levamisole-trichlorfon combination on isolated sheep trachea. Contraction was achieved with levamisole concentrations (10(-8)-10(-3) M) on tracheal strips of adult sheep (> 1 year of age). Pretreatment with trichlorfon (10(-7) M)-levamisole (10(-7) M) decreased the pD2 and E(max) of Ach when compared to levamisole pretreatment (p < or = 0.01). Pretreatment with levamisole (10(-7) M), decreased the E(max) (p < or = 0.01) and pD2 (p < 0.05) of bethanechol concentrations (10(-8)-10(-3) M) significantly. Pretreatment with atropine (10(-6) M) decreased the E(max) of levamisole (10(-4) M) significantly (p < 0.05). To conclude, levamisole acted mainly on the muscarinic receptors of the sheep trachea and this effect was partly inhibited by atropine. Adverse interaction was present between levamisole and trichlorfon.

Spectrophotometric multicomponent determination of sunset yellow, tartrazine and allura red in soft drink powder by double divisor-ratio spectra derivative, inverse least-squares and principal component regression methods.

Double divisor-ratio spectra derivative (graphical method), classical least-squares and principal component regression (two numerical methods) methods were developed for the spectrophotometric multicomponent analysis of soft drink powders and synthetic mixtures containing three colorants without any chemical separation. The graphical method is based on the use of derivative signals of the ratio spectra using double divisor. In this method, the linear determination ranges were 2-8 mug ml(-1) sunset yellow, 4-18 mug ml(-1) tartrazine and 2-8 mug ml(-1) allura red in 0.1 M HCl. In the numerical methods, a training set was randomly prepared by using 18 samples containing between 0 and 8 mug ml(-1) of sunset yellow, 0-18 mug ml(-1) of tartrazine and 0-8 mug ml(-1) of allura red. The chemometric calibrations were calculated by using the prepared training set and its absorbances at seven points (from 375.0 to 550.0 nm) in the spectral region 325-584 nm. The proposed methods were validated by using synthetic ternary mixtures and applied to the simultaneous determination of three colorants in soft drink powders. The obtained results were statistically compared with each other.