Abstract
The organophosphate (OP) pesticides are neurotoxic compounds widely used around the world. Evaluation of OP exposure in human studies is important for enabling adequate data analyses and drawing accurate conclusions. The aim of this study was to analyze OP exposure biomarkers and their relationships in a Mexican population with different exposure levels. Dialkylphosphates (DAP) were determined through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MSD); acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), arylesterase (AREase), basal paraoxonase 1 (PONase), and β-glucuronidase activities were detected using spectrophotometric methods. The albumin content was determined in a certified clinical laboratory. The DMTP metabolite was found in the highest concentration, and a negative and significant correlation between DAP and cholinesterase activity was observed. Our results suggested that BuChE is a considerably more sensitive biomarker than AChE. In addition, β-glucuronidase was positively correlated with albumin, BuChE, and PONase. In conclusion, our data strongly support the use of two or more biomarkers of exposure in human monitoring and the application of a strong and validated questionnaire.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all the workers who participated in the study. The authors also thank Dr. Leticia Yáñez-Estrada and her team at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, for the facilities provided for the measurements of DAP.
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The datasets used and analyzed for the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request; the datasets generated and analyzed for the current study are not publicly available because individual privacy could be compromised.
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This work was supported by CONACyT (Fondo Sectorial Salud-Grant #233803).
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JFHM: investigation, writing-original draft preparation, writing-reviewing and editing, formal analysis, visualization. IMMD: Writing-reviewing and editing. YYBH: writing-reviewing and editing. BSBV: writing-reviewing and editing. CAGA: writing-reviewing and editing. MEMG: writing-reviewing and editing. FAVB: writing-reviewing and editing. ASS: writing-reviewing and editing. AERG: investigation, conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, writing-original draft preparation, writing-reviewing and editing, formal analysis, visualization. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Highlights
• The metabolite with the highest concentration in the study population was the DMTP.
• BuChE activity is a more sensitive biomarker than AChE activity to OP exposure.
• β-glucuronidase activity was positively correlated with albumin, BuChE and PONase.
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Herrera-Moreno, J.F., Medina-Díaz, I.M., Bernal-Hernández, Y. et al. Organophosphorus pesticide exposure biomarkers in a Mexican population. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 50825–50834 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14270-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14270-1