Evaluation of the intestinal barrier and myenteric neural plasticity of the jejunum of Wistar rats exposed to the fungicide Tebuconazole (TEB)

• Grant number: 24/03879-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Oceanography - Biological Oceanography
• Principal Investigator: Renata de Britto Mari
• Grantee: Beatriz Soares Lopes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB-CLP). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista. São Vicente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The accelerated evolution of agriculture has caused profound changes in the global agricultural scenario, which has resulted in major impacts not only on the environment, but on animal health, including human health. The search for productivity in the agricultural sector promoted a significant increase in the use of pesticides, due to the growth and emergence of living organisms considered harmful. In this context, fungicides represent 17.90% of pesticides used on plantations. Tebuconazole is a broad-spectrum triazole fungicide that has been widely applied in agriculture, however its residues, which have greater toxicity, mobility and persistence than their original compounds, have been frequently detected in marine environmental samples and foods, posing risks potential for humans and marine biota. Considering that the route of exposure to the contaminant is oral, the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) has an important role as a barrier against pathogens and other harmful substances present in the intestinal lumen. In this sense, the TGI is a potential biomarker to understand the consequences of these contaminants on organisms and, consequently, on the ecosystem. Furthermore, the present work aims to investigate the effect of subchronic exposure to the fungicide Tebuconazole (TEB) on the intestinal barrier and myenteric neuronal plasticity of the jejunum of Wistar rats. For this purpose, male Wistar rats will receive environmentally relevant concentrations of TEB at concentrations of 10, 20 and 50 ng/g via gavage for 30 consecutive days. After the experimental period, the animals will be euthanized and the jejunum will be collected and used for the technique of revealing metabolically active neurons (NADH-dp) and non-adrenergic non-cholinergic neurons (NADPH-diaphorase), in addition to analyzing the morphometric structure of the wall. intestinal. The results obtained will be subjected to the Shapiro-Wilk and Levene test and analyzed by the One-way ANOVA test, while those that do not pass will be subjected to the Kruskal Wallis test, being expressed as mean ± standard deviation with a significance level of 5 %.