Impact of glyphosate and its formulation Roundup® on stallion spermatozoa.
Abstract: The growing and widespread use of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) has raised an intense public debate about the impact of environmental contamination on animal and human health, including male fertility. The aim of this study was to deepen the impact of glyphosate (Gly) and GBHs on mammalian sperm investigating the effect of in vitro exposure of stallion spermatozoa to Gly and to its commercial formulation Roundup® (R). Spermatozoa were incubated at 37 °C with different Gly or R concentrations (from 0.5 to 720 μg/mL Gly or R at the same Gly-equivalent concentrations). After 1 h of incubation motility, viability, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial activity and ROS production were assessed. Gly, at all the concentrations tested, did not induce any detrimental impact on the sperm quality parameters evaluated. Conversely, R starting from 360 μg/mL (Gly-equivalent dose) significantly (P < 0.05) decreased total and progressive motility, viability, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial activity and the percentage of live spermatozoa with intact mitochondria not producing ROS. Our results indicate that the commercial formulation R is more toxic than its active molecule Gly and that the negative impact on stallion sperm motility might be likely due to a detrimental effect mainly at membrane and mitochondrial level and, at least in part, to redox unbalance. Moreover, based on the data obtained, it can be hypothesized a species-specificity in sperm sensitivity to Gly and GBHs as horse spermatozoa were negatively influenced at higher concentrations of R compared to those reported in literature to be toxic for human and swine male germ cells.
Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2021-12-03 PubMed ID: 34891125DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2021.12.003Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
Summary
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This study investigates the effects of the widely used herbicide glyphosate and its version in the product Roundup on the sperm of stallions. The results show that glyphosate itself doesn’t harm sperm, but Roundup does at higher concentrations, affecting various measures of sperm health, possibly due to effects on cell membranes and mitochondrial activity.
Study Description
- This research looked into how glyphosate (Gly) and glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) such as Roundup (R) would affect stallion sperm in the laboratory setting.
- The sperm was exposed to a wide range of Gly and R concentrations (0.5 to 720 µg/mL) and incubated at 37 °C.
- After an hour of incubation, various sperm health parameters were evaluated, including motility, viability, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial activity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.
Main Findings
- The outcomes revealed that, at all concentrations tested, Gly did not negatively influence any of the evaluated sperm quality parameters.
- On the other hand, R, starting from 360 µg/mL, significantly decreased total and progressive motility, viability, acrosome integrity, and mitochondrial activity, as well as the percentage of live sperm with intact mitochondria not producing ROS.
- Therefore, the data show that R, the commercial glyphosate formulation, is more toxic to sperm than glyphosate itself.
Implications
- The detrimental effect on sperm motility is likely due to an adverse impact on membrane and mitochondrial levels and to some extent, to redox imbalance.
- The researchers hypothesize that there might be species-specificity in sperm sensitivity to Gly and GBHs. This theory comes from the observation that horse sperm is negatively affected at R concentrations higher than those reported to be toxic for human and swine male germ cells in previous studies.
- This study thereby contributes to ongoing debate and further investigations about the impact of environmental contaminants on animal and human health, specifically to male fertility.
Cite This Article
APA
Spinaci M, Nerozzi C, Mislei B, Blanco-Prieto O, Mari G, Galeati G, Bucci D.
(2021).
Impact of glyphosate and its formulation Roundup® on stallion spermatozoa.
Theriogenology, 179, 197-203.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2021.12.003 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: marcella.spinaci@unibo.it.
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; National Institute of Artificial Insemination (AUB-INFA), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; National Institute of Artificial Insemination (AUB-INFA), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
MeSH Terms
- Acrosome
- Animals
- Glycine / analogs & derivatives
- Glycine / toxicity
- Horses
- Male
- Sperm Motility
- Spermatozoa
- Swine
Conflict of Interest Statement
Declaration of competing interest None of the authors have conflict of interest to declare.
Citations
This article has been cited 2 times.- Ferguson S, Mesnage R, Antoniou MN. Cytotoxicity Mechanisms of Eight Major Herbicide Active Ingredients in Comparison to Their Commercial Formulations. Toxics 2022 Nov 21;10(11).
- Torres-Badia M, Solar-Malaga S, Serrano R, Garcia-Marin LJ, Bragado MJ. The adverse impact of herbicide Roundup Ultra Plus in human spermatozoa plasma membrane is caused by its surfactant. Sci Rep 2022 Jul 29;12(1):13082.
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