Abstract
Roundup is a widely used glyphosate-based herbicide worldwide. Roundup residues can be detected in the organs and urine of animals. However, its toxicity on mammalian preimplantation embryos has not been well investigated. Here, we show Roundup impairs the development and quality of bovine preimplantation embryos in a dose-dependent manner. Exposure to the agricultural recommended doses of Roundup caused in vitro developmental arrest and quick death of bovine embryos. Furthermore, even a very low concentration (0.9 ppm) of Roundup was harmful to bovine preimplantation development. In addition, Roundup increases intracellular calcium levels and induces oxidative stress and apoptosis in bovine embryos. Even if the embryos developed to morphologically normal blastocysts when cultured with low concentrations of Roundup, abnormal intracellular calcium and oxidative stress could be detected inside the embryos and led to an increased incidence of apoptosis in the blastocysts. These data suggest Roundup residues from the agricultural application are potentially dangerous to mammalian preimplantation embryos.
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Abbreviations
- AMPA:
-
Aminomethylphosphonic acid
- BSA:
-
Bovine serum albumin
- COCs:
-
Cumulus oocyte complexes
- EPSPS:
-
5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase
- DCFH-DA:
-
2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate
- FBS:
-
Fetal bovine serum
- GlyBH:
-
Glyphosate-based herbicide
- ICM:
-
Inner cell mass
- POEA:
-
Polyoxyethylene amine
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- SOF:
-
Synthetic oviductal fluid medium
- TE:
-
Trophectoderm
- TUNEL:
-
TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Lili Ren for proofreading of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 31301201) and Natural Science Fund Project, Department of Science and Technology of Liaoning Province (Grant 2019-MS-282).
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Cai, W., Yang, X., Li, X. et al. Low-dose Roundup induces developmental toxicity in bovine preimplantation embryos in vitro. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 16451–16459 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08183-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08183-8