Dados do Trabalho

Título

PRESENCE OF THE PESTICIDE TEBUCONAZOLE IN OLIVE OIL INDUCES TOXICITY IN Caenorhabditis Elegans

Introdução

Olive oil is considered ant important food in the Mediterranean diet and its nutritional and bioactive profile are associated with a lower risk of chronic non-communicable diseases. However, this beneffits of olive oil can be impaired by the presence of contaminats, such as pesticides. This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of the olive oil contaminated with the fungicide tebuconazole in vivo.

Material e Métodos

A pesticides-free commercial extra virgen olive oil sample (control) was contaminated with tebuconazole at a concentration previously found in olive oil samples (9 mg L-1). The hability of the contaminated oil to cause toxicity in vivo was evaluated used Caenorhabditis Elegans, a kown experimental model. Worms at the L1 larval stage were exposed to olive oil samples (50 µL) for 30 minutes. The toxicity of olive oil contaminated with tebuconazole was determined by counting survival worms and measuring reactive species (RS) generation by dichlorofluorecein (DCF) assay.

Resultados e Discussão

Interestingly, the exposure of worms to tebuconazole contaminanated olive oil resulted in a decrease in RS generation when compared to control (p<0.05). However, a 50% reduction in the survival of nematodes exposed to olive oil contaminated with tebuconazole was observed when compared to the control group (p<0.05).

Conclusão

These results suggest that the antioxidant system may have been activated in worms by tebuconazole presence, resulting in decreased RS generation. However, this activation was not enought to reduce the survival loss caused by tebuconazole presence in olive oil. Our results suggest that oxidative stress mechanisms may be involved in the toxicity of tebuconazole. Thus, an evaluation of the antioxidant system in worms exposed to tebuconazole contaminated oil needs to be carried out in a near future. Our results demonstrated the toxic effect of a pesticide presence in olive oil and highlighted the importance of establishing regulations for the use of pesticides in olive crops in Brazil, ion order to ensure the safe consumption of this product.