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Formetanate toxicity and changes in antioxidant enzyme system of Apis mellifera larvae

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 24, pages 14060–14070 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Substantial percentage of world food production depends on pollinating service of honeybees that directly depends on their health status. Among other factors, the success of bee colonies depends on health of developed larvae. The crucial phase of larval development is the first 6 days after hatching when a worker larva grows exponentially and larvae are potentially exposed to xenobiotics via diet. In the present study, we determined the lethal concentration LC50 (72 h) following single dietary exposure of honeybee larvae to formetanate under laboratory conditions, being also the first report available in scientific literature. Activities of antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) were also measured in the homogenates of in vitro reared honeybee larvae after single formetanate exposure. Decreased specific activity of SOD and increased activities of CAT and GST suggest the induction of oxidative stress. Higher levels of thiobarbituric reactive species in all samples supported this fact. Comparing determined larval toxicity (LC50 of 206.01 mg a.i./kg diet) with adult toxicity data, we can suppose that the larvae may be less sensitive to formetanate than the adult bees.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA (grant No. 1/0858/16 and No. 1/0176/16) and by the National Reference Laboratory for Pesticides of University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Slovakia. The authors would like to thank Mgr. Tomáš Plichta for his help during the larvae rearing.

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Affiliations

  1. Animal Production Research Centre Nitra, Institute of Apiculture Liptovský Hrádok, Gašperíkova 599, 033 80, Liptovský Hrádok, Slovakia

    Martin Staroň

  2. Department of Toxicology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Komenského 73, 041 81, Košice, Slovakia

    Rastislav Sabo & Jaroslav Legáth

  3. Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biophysics, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Komenského 73, 041 81, Košice, Slovakia

    Anna Sobeková

  4. Department of Pharmacology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Komenského 73, 041 81, Košice, Slovakia

    Lucia Sabová

  5. Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biophysics, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Komenského 73, 041 81, Košice, Slovakia

    Ľuboslava Lohajová

  6. Institute of Animal Physiology SAS, Šoltésovej 4-6, 04001, Košice, Slovakia

    Peter Javorský

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  1. Martin Staroň
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  2. Rastislav Sabo
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  3. Anna Sobeková
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  4. Lucia Sabová
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Correspondence to Rastislav Sabo.

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Staroň, M., Sabo, R., Sobeková, A. et al. Formetanate toxicity and changes in antioxidant enzyme system of Apis mellifera larvae. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 14060–14070 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8966-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8966-9

Keywords

  • Honey bee larvae
  • Enzymes
  • Carbamate
  • Dietary exposure