Santos_2012_Chemosphere_89_1118

The effects of Atrazine an herbicide used worldwide and considered as a potential contaminant in aquatic environments were assessed on the Neotropical fish Prochilodus lineatus acutely 24 and 48h exposed to 2 or 10mugL(-1 of atrazine by using a set of biochemical and genetic biomarkers The following parameters were measured in the liver activity of the biotransformation enzymes ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase EROD and glutathione S transferase GST antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase SOD catalase CAT glutathione peroxidase GPx glutathione reductase GR content of reduced glutathione GSH generation of reactive oxygen species ROS and occurrence of lipid peroxidation LPO in brain and muscle the activity of acetylcholinesterase AChE and DNA damage comet assay on erythrocytes gills and liver cells A general decreasing trend on the biotransformation and antioxidant enzymes was observed in the liver of P lineatus exposed to atrazine except for GR all the other antioxidant enzymes SOD CAT and GPx and biotransformation enzymes EROD and GST showed inhibited activity Changes in muscle or brain AChE were not detected DNA damage was observed in the different cell types of fish exposed to the herbicide and it was probably not from oxidative origin since no increase in ROS generation and LPO was detected in the liver These results show that atrazine behaves as enzyme inhibitor impairing hepatic metabolism and produces genotoxic damage to different cell types of P lineatus.