Bifenthrine & Hymexazol Toxic Effects on Helix aspersa and the Evaluation of the Protective Effect of Orange Essential Oils

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study of the toxicity induced by two types of pesticides (bifenthrin (BF) and hymexazole (HY)) at the hepatopancreatic level in Helix aspersa, which is a bioaccumulator organism and bioindicators in environmental pollution, as well as the evaluation of the protective effect of orange essential oils (OEO).

This is an experimental study conducted in the laboratory on 40 Helix Aspersa snails that have been divided into four groups (10 snails each): (i) a control group, (ii) a group injected by the OEO (0.151 UL /g), (iii) a group injected by the combination BF (0.83 mg /ml) and HY (90 ug /g) and (IV) a group injected by the OEO, BF and HY mixture. The treatment was stopped after 90 days. Five oxidative stress markers (MDA, GSH, GST, GPX and CAT) as well as mitochondrial respiration have been measured. In this study, the results show that the BF and HY mixture induces an increase in MDA and GSH levels as well as an increase in the enzymatic activity of the GST, Catalase, and GPX at the hepatopancreatic level. We have also shown that these two pesticides cause a decrease in the level of the mitochondrial respiration. In addition, this results show that OEO supplementation restored most of oxidative stress markers to levels close to those of control group. Our study suggests that OEO can be used as an effective antioxidant to alleviate the of oxidative stress intensity induced by the BF and HY mixture.