Pesticide residues in environmental and produce samples from ecological and conventional paprika cultivation fields

To support environmental and food safety of spice paprika production, paprika growing sites in intensive and ecological cultivation have been sampled and analyzed for pesticide residues in Hungary. Two sites of three producers in each cultivation mode were sampled in early summer. Soil samples have been collected at three different points from two or three depth levels, thus, altogether 42 soil samples have been collected at six intensive cultivation fields (ICFs) and 23 soil samples from ecological cultivation fields (ECFs). Pesticide residues in soil extracts have been determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In soils from ICF sampling sites pesticide active ingredients trifluralin, tefluthrin, chlorpyrifos and DDT were detected together with certain decomposition products (DDE, DDD). Harvested paprika samples were collected in September from four ICFs and from one ECF. Biological samples, prepared by a modified QuEChERS extraction method and analyzed for pesticide residues by GC-MS, contained no detectable amounts of pesticide active ingredients and metabolites, even when plants were grown in ICF on soil containing pesticide residues

Environmental monitoring of glyphosate and assessment of its combined cytotoxicity with adjuvants

Pesticide toxicology currently focuses mainly on two areas: long-term effects of given compounds and cocktail effects of chemicals, including combined effects of pesticide active ingredients with their adjuvants, as seen in the case of glyphosate-based herbicides. In this study surface water pollution in an agricultural region of Hungary by glyphosate was determined by ELISA method, and cytotoxic effects on HEK293 and NE-4C cells by glyphosate, its formulated herbicide (ROUNDUP® ) and adjuvant (polyethoxylated tallowamine, POEA) were compared. ROUNDUP and POEA were found to be equitoxic at short exposures (LC50: 10-15 ng/ml in 6 hrs), while glyphosate occurred to be of 500-750-fold less toxicity

Cytotoxic effects of Roundup Classic and its components on NE-4C and MC3T3-E1 cell lines determined by biochemical and flow cytometric assays

Cytotoxic effects of the market leading broad-spectrum, synthetic herbicide product Roundup Classic, its active ingredient glyphosate (in a form of its isopropylamine (IPA) salt) and its formulating surfactant polyethoxylated tallowamine (POE-15) were determined on two murine cell lines, a neuroectodermal stem cell-like (NE-4C) and a high alkaline phosphatase activity osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3-E1). Cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, effects on cell viability and cell cycles were examined in five flow cytometry tests, the two former of which were compared by the enzymatic-assay and the alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay. All of the tests indicated the NE-4C cells being more sensitive, than the MC3T3-E1 cell line to the treatments with the target compounds. Higher sensitivity differences were detected in the viability test by flow cytometry (7–9-fold), than by the MTT assay (1.5–3-fold); in the genotoxicity test by the Comet assay (3.5–403-fold), than by the DNA-damage test (9.3–158-fold); and in the apoptosis test by the Annexin V dead cell kit (1.1–12.7-fold), than by the Caspase 3/7 kit (1–6.5-fold). Cell cycle assays indicated high count of cells (~70%) in the G0/G1 phase for MC3T3-E1 cells, than in NE-4C cell (~40%) after 24 h. The order of the inhibitory potency of the target substances has unequivocally been POE-15 > Roundup Classic > > glyphosate IPA salt