OP Pesticides (op + pesticide)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Cholinesterase activity and behavior in chlorpyrifos-exposed Rana sphenocephala tadpoles

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 9 2006
Pamela D. Widder
Abstract Recent studies have found a correlation between organophosphate (OP) pesticide exposure and declines in amphibian populations. We evaluated the hypothesis that this relationship is driven by behavioral changes in developing larvae. Specifically, we examined how exposure to a common OP pesticide, chlorpyrifos, influenced cholinesterase (ChE) activity, mass, and swim speed in Rana sphenocephala tadpoles. We also determined how the presence of natural pond sediments in exposure chambers influenced response to the pesticide and how mass and survival were affected when tadpoles were exposed to an invertebrate (odonate) predator in addition to the pesticide. Mass and swim speed were measured after 4- and 12-d laboratory exposures to 1, 10, 100, and 200 ,g/L of chlorpyrifos in test chambers that either did or did not contain pond sediments. These same parameters also were examined in mesocosms dosed with 200 ,g/L of chlorpyrifos to evaluate responses under more environmentally realistic conditions. The effect of the invertebrate predators on survival and/or growth of tadpoles was evaluated in the mesocosm study and in separate laboratory experiments. In laboratory tests, no pesticide-induced mortality was observed; however, tadpole ChE activity in the two highest concentrations was significantly lowered, with a longer exposure duration further decreasing activity (maximum inhibition, 43%). Mass also was lower at higher concentrations, but this effect was not enhanced with longer duration of exposure. Reductions in ChE activity of tadpoles exposed in mesocosms were similar to those observed in laboratory experiments for the first 4 d. Tadpole swim speed and survival in the presence of a predator were not affected, with the latter largely resulting from pesticide-induced predator mortality. [source]


Organophosphorus pesticides in storm-water runoff from southern California (USA)

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 8 2004
Kenneth Schiff
Abstract Large quantities of the organophosphorus (OP) pesticides diazinon and chlorpyrifos are applied to California (USA) watersheds every year, but few data are available on the sources of OP pesticides in urban watersheds. The goal of this study was to characterize diazinon and chlorpyrifos concentrations from different land uses indicative of source categories in urban southern California watersheds. This characterization included analysis of 128 runoff samples from eight different land uses over five storm events. Diazinon was consistently detected (93% of samples) during this study, whereas chlorpyrifos was not consistently detected (12% of samples). The mixed agricultural land use had the highest flow weighted mean (FWM) concentration of diazinon (4,076 ng/L), which exceeded the next-highest land-use categories (commercial and residential) by one to two orders of magnitude (324,99 ng/L, respectively). Open space had the lowest concentration of diazinon (<20 ng/L). Concentrations of diazinon at replicate land-use sites and during replicate storm events at the same site were highly variable. The difference in diazinon FWM concentrations among replicate sites ranged from 1.5-fold to 45-fold. The difference in diazinon FWM concentrations among storms at the same site ranged from 1.25-fold to 30-fold. Part of this variability is a response to the temporal patterns observed within a storm event. The majority of land-use site-events had peak concentrations before peak flow indicating a first-flush effect, but this was not always a predictable temporal trend. The first-flush effect was rarely evident in terms of mass loadings because flows can range orders of magnitude during a single event in highly impervious urban watersheds. Flow variability thus overwhelms the variability in diazinon concentrations attributable to the first-flush effect. [source]


Ecotoxicologic impacts of agricultural drain water in the Salinas River, California, USA

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 10 2003
Brian S. Anderson
Abstract The Salinas River is the largest of the three rivers that drain into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in central California (USA). Large areas of this watershed are cultivated year-round in row crops, and previous laboratory studies have demonstrated that acute toxicity of agricultural drain water to Ceriodaphnia dubia is caused by the organophosphate (OP) pesticides chlorpyrifos and diazinon. We investigated chemical contamination and toxicity in waters and sediments in the river downstream of an agricultural drain water input. Ecological impacts of drain water were investigated by using bioassessments of macroinvertebrate community structure. Toxicity identification evaluations were used to characterize chemicals responsible for toxicity. Salinas River water downstream of the agricultural drain was acutely toxic to the cladoceran Ceriodaphnia dubia, and toxicity to C. dubia was highly correlated with combined toxic units (TUs) of chlorpyrifos and diazinon. Laboratory tests were used to demonstrate that sediments in this system were acutely toxic to the amphipod Hyalella azteca, a resident invertebrate. Toxicity identification evaluations (TIEs) conducted on sediment pore water suggested that toxicity to amphipods was due in part to OP pesticides; concentrations of chlorpyrifos in pore water sometimes exceeded the 10-d mean lethal concentration (LC50) for H. azteca. Potentiation of toxicity with addition of the metabolic inhibitor piperonyl butoxide suggested that sediment toxicity also was due to other non,metabolically activated compounds. Macroinvertebrate community structure was highly impacted downstream of the agricultural drain input, and a number of macroinvertebrate community metrics were negatively correlated with combined TUs of chlorpyrifos and diazinon, as well as turbidity associated with the drain water. Some macroinvertebrate metrics were also correlated with bank vegetation cover. This study suggests that pesticide pollution is the likely cause of ecological damage in the Salinas River, and this factor may interact with other stressors associated with agricultural drain water to impact the macroinvertebrate community in the system. [source]


Application of programmable temperature vaporisation injection with resistive heating-gas chromatography flame photometric detection for the determination of organophosphorus pesticides

JOURNAL OF SEPARATION SCIENCE, JSS, Issue 1 2006
Katan Patel
Abstract The combination of a programmable temperature vaporisation (PTV) injector with resistive heating GC (RH-GC), a form of fast GC, has been applied to the analysis of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides. The PTV injector was optimised in the ,at-once' solvent vent mode for the injection of ethyl acetate (10,40 ,L) or ACN (10 ,L). The short RH-GC column (5 m×0.25 mm ID) with fast temperature ramps (up to 153°C/min) allowed the separation of a total of 20 OP pesticides in less than 6 min. Average recoveries between 67 and 119% were obtained for pesticides spiked at 0.01 mg/kg into apple and pear matrix. Extraction of orange juice with ACN provided higher recoveries (92,104%) for methamidophos, acephate and omethoate compared to ethyl acetate (62,73%). Results for analysis of OP pesticides in samples containing incurred residues were in good agreement with those obtained using GC-MS. The overall method was rapid, allowing 20 samples to be analysed in 4 h. British Crown Copyright © 2005 Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim [source]


Nanoparticle-Based Electrochemical Immunosensor for the Detection of Phosphorylated Acetylcholinesterase: An Exposure Biomarker of Organophosphate Pesticides and Nerve Agents

CHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Issue 32 2008
Guodong Liu Dr.
Abstract A nanoparticle-based electrochemical immunosensor has been developed for the detection of phosphorylated acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which is a potential biomarker of exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides and chemical warfare nerve agents. Zirconia nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) were used as selective sorbents to capture the phosphorylated AChE adduct, and quantum dots (ZnS@CdS, QDs) were used as tags to label monoclonal anti-AChE antibody to quantify the immunorecognition events. The sandwich-like immunoreactions were performed among the ZrO2 NPs, which were pre-coated on a screen printed electrode (SPE) by electrodeposition, phosphorylated AChE and QD-anti-AChE. The captured QD tags were determined on the SPE by electrochemical stripping analysis of its metallic component (cadmium) after an acid-dissolution step. Paraoxon was used as the model OP insecticide to prepare the phosphorylated AChE adducts to demonstrate proof of principle for the sensor. The phosphorylated AChE adduct was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and mass spectroscopy. The binding affinity of anti-AChE to the phosphorylated AChE was validated with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The parameters (e.g., amount of ZrO2 NP, QD-anti-AChE concentration,) that govern the electrochemical response of immunosensors were optimized. The voltammetric response of the immunosensor is highly linear over the range of 10,pM to 4,nM phosphorylated AChE, and the limit of detection is estimated to be 8.0,pM. The immunosensor also successfully detected phosphorylated AChE in human plasma. This new nanoparticle-based electrochemical immunosensor provides an opportunity to develop field-deployable, sensitive, and quantitative biosensors for monitoring exposure to a variety of OP pesticides and nerve agents. [source]