Study on systemic and reproductive toxicity of acetochlor in male mice

Acetochlor is one of the three most abundant herbicides used in China, which is a pre-emergence herbicide belonging to chloroacetanilides. It is classified as likely to be carcinogenic to humans and suspected as an endocrine disruptor by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the European Union Environmental Protection Agency (EUEPA). Therefore, there is increasing concern about the risk of acetochlor to human health and the environment. However, the current research on acetochlor mainly focuses on the assessment of environmental behaviors, whereas toxicity studies mainly concentrate on non-mammals such as zebrafish. So far, only a few reports of its effects on the male reproductive system of animals have been found. In the present study, C57BL/6 male mice and GC-1 spermatogonia(spgs) were used to analyze in vivo and in vitro toxicities of acetochlor to investigate the relationships among acetochlor-induced oxidative stress, endocrine dysfunction, degenerative diseases of germ cells and apoptosis. The results show that acetochlor can induce systemic and reproductive toxicity in subacutely exposed mice, such as clear reduction in body weight, liver function damage in mice, oxidative stress damage and histopathological degeneration in testicular tissue as the concentration of acetochlor increases. In addition, acetochlor might mediate apoptotic pathways that affect the survival of GC-1 spgs; in detail, cell viability decreases, cell cytotoxicity and apoptosis are elevated, and oxidative stress and expression changes of apoptosis-related proteins are observed compared with that for control in GC-1 spgs. In addition, this study also provides a scientific basis for evaluating the toxicological effects of acetochlor as well as its potential damage to mammals.