Glyphosate and Roundup® alter morphology and behavior in zebrafish

Glyphosate has become the most widely used herbicide in the world, due to the wide scale adoption of transgenic glyphosate resistant crops after its introduction in 1996. Glyphosate may be used alone, but it is commonly applied as an active ingredient of the herbicide Roundup (R). This pesticide contains several adjuvants, which may promote an unknown toxicity. The indiscriminate application poses numerous problems, both for the health of the applicators and consumers, and for the environment, contaminating the soil, water and leading to the death of plants and animals. Zebrafish (Danio redo) is quickly gaining popularity in behavioral research, because of physiological similarity to mammals, sensitivity to pharmacological factors, robust performance, low cost, short spawning intervals, external fertilization, transparency of embryos through larval stages, and rapid development. The aim of this study was evaluate the effects of glyphosate and Roundup on behavioral and morphological parameters in zebrafish larvae and adults. Zebrafish larvae at 3 days post-fertilization and adults were exposed to glyphosate (0.01, 0.065, and 0.5 mg/L) or Roundup (0.01, 0.065, and 0.5 mg/L) for 96 h. Immediately after the exposure, we performed the analysis of locomotor activity, aversive behavior, and morphology for the larvae and exploratory behavior, aggression and inhibitory avoidance memory for adult zebrafish. In zebrafish larvae, there were significant differences in the locomotor activity and aversive behavior after glyphosate or Roundup' exposure when compared to the control group. Our findings demonstrated that exposure to glyphosate at the concentration of 0.5 mg/L, Roundup at 0.065 or 0.5 mg/L reduced the distance traveled, the mean speed and the line crossings in adult zebrafish. A decreased ocular distance was observed for larvae exposed at 0.5 mg/L of glyphosate. We verified that at 0.5 mg/L of Roundup-treated adult zebrafish demonstrated a significant impairment in memory. Both glyphosate and Roundup (R) reduced aggressive behavior. Our data suggest that there are small differences between the effects induced by glyphosate and Roundup', altering morphological and behavioral parameters in zebrafish, suggesting common mechanisms of toxicity and cellular response.