Locomotive Activity as an Indicator of Acute Chlorpyrifos Toxicity in ...

other animal models, including mammals and hens. It is more typical that in order to mimic the toxicant-induced behavior
of higher eukaryotes, one must use higher concentrations of the toxicant in C. elegans (Cole et al., 2003). It may be
that C. elegans are particularly susceptible to the effects of chlorpyrifos, perhaps because the compound penetrates
the exoskeleton of the C. elegans more effectively than other toxicants. Further studies altering the concentration of
chlorpyrifos to which C. elegans are exposed may yield an EC50 of the toxicant such that analysis of proteins affected upon
chlorpyrifos exposure can be performed.
Literature Cited
Anderson, GL, RD Cole, and PL Williams (2004). Assessing behavioral toxicity with Caenorhabditis elegans. Environ
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Cole, RD, GL Anderson and PL Williams (2003). The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model of organophosphateinduced
mammalian neurotoxicity. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 194: 248-256.
Davis, D and R Richardson (1980). Organophosphorous compounds. In: Experimental and Clinical Neurotoxicology. Eds:
P. Spencer and H. Schaumburg, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, pp. 527-544.
Ecobichon, D (1996). Toxic effect of pesticides. In: Casarett and Doull’s Toxicology: the basic science of poisons. Ed.: C.
Klaassen. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 643-689.
Hart, Anne C, ed. Behavior (July 3, 2006), WormBook, ed. The C. elegans Research Community, WormBook, doi/10.1895/
wormbook.1.87.1, http://www.wormbook.org.
Leung, MCK, PL Williams, A Benedetto, C Au, KJ Helmcke, M Aschner and JN Meyer (2008). Caenorhabditis elegans: An
Emerging Model in Biomedical and Environmental Toxicology. Tox Sci 106(1): 5-28.
Sultatos, L (1994). Mammalian toxicology of organophosphorous pesticides. J Toxicol Environ Health 43: 271-289.
80
70
0.001
mM
% control
60
50
40
30
20
*
*
0.005
mM
0.01
mM
10
0
chlorpyrifos concentration (mM)
C. elegans treated with 0.01 mM chlorpyrifos exhibited significantly less movement per minute than C. elegans treated with
0.005 mM chlorpyrifos (p = 0.001) or 0.001 mM chlorpyrifos (p = 0.001).