Rotenone and benomyl dopaminergic neurons toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans: impli-cances in parkinsonism.

LUCIA FERNANDEZ HUBEID; MIRIAM VIRGOLINI

Congreso; Third Latin American C. elegans Meeting; 2023

C. elegans is a model organism widely used in the study of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Thus, in the present study, we sought to describe the potential neurotoxicity of the pesticide Rotenone and Benomyl in the dopaminergic system of Caenorhabditis elegans. Both pesticides are described as inhibitors of the ALDH superfamily of enzymes, which plays a crucial role in the detoxification of toxic aldehydes in the organism including DOPAL (3, 4-dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde), a metabolite of DA implicated in the catecholaldehyde hypotension of Parkinson's disease. To evaluate the impact of these pesticides in dopaminergic system, neurodegenerative and dopamine dependent behavioral assays were carried out. Young adult worms were exposed to 0, 2, or 10 uM Rotenone or Benomyl separately for 24 h in liquid medium. Dopaminergic neurodegeneration was evaluated employing the BZ555 strain which expresses GFP under the dat-1 promoter. A qualitative scale was used to analyze neuronal morphology. The results demonstrate that pesticides exposure generate morphological alterations in dopaminergic neurons. Furthermore, the basal slowing response behavioral assay was performed on wild type N2, CB1112 and UA57. The number of body bends in the absence and presence of food was recorded. Animals exposed to 10 uM Rotenone exhibited a decrease in locomotion in both conditions in all strains. While CB1112 animals exposed to 10 uM Benomyl exhibited a tendency to increase their locomotion in the presence of food. These results represent a first line in the toxicity evaluation, in this case pesticides associated to the etiology of Parkinson’s disease. Funded by: MinCyT, CONICET and SeCyT-UNC, Argentina.