Both acute glyphosate and the aminomethylphosphonic acid intoxication decreased the acetylcholinesterase activity in rat hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and gastrocnemius muscle

Abstract

It has been reported that glyphosate, one of the most common herbicides used in agriculture, impairs locomotion and cognition. Glyphosate has a variable half-life in soil up to biotic and/or abiotic factors transform the molecule in metabolites such as the aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) that has a longer half-life. In this study, female Sprague Dawley rats were acutely exposed to different doses of glyphosate or AMPA (i.e. 10, 56 or 100 mg/kg) and, subsequently, the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was measured in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the gastrocnemius muscle. Both glyphosate and AMPA produced a similar decrease in the AChE activity in all the tissues tested. These results suggest that interference with normal cholinergic neurotransmission may be one of the mechanisms involved in glyphosate-induced motor alterations in rats. Moreover, our results highlight the biological importance of AMPA as a molecule with anticholinesterase action in brain and skeletal muscle. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing in vivo that AMPA, the major metabolite of glyphosate, behaves as an organophosphate.

Keywords:

• Aminomethylphosphonic acid
• glyphosate
• hippocampus
• prefrontal cortex
• gastrocnemius muscle
• acetylcholinesterase activity

Acknowledgements

JC-R acknowledges CONAHCYT for the Postdoctoral fellow grant to develop the research of neurotoxic effects of glyphosate. BAM-C was supported by “Dirección General de Investigación y Posgrado” (Grant: PIFF21‑1).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the first author, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

CONAHCYT supported JC-R with a Postdoctoral Fellow Grant. BAM-C was supported by “Dirección General de Investigación y Posgrado” (Grant: PIFF21‑1) from “Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes”.