Efeitos da exposição ao herbicida à base de glifosato sobre o desenvolvimento de doença hepática gordurosa não alcoólica em camundongos fêmeas submetidas ou não à privação hormonal ovariana

Abstract

Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide worldwide. In the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of studies that indicate that glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) can contribute to the development of chronic diseases. The overall objective of the study was to verify whether exposure to GBH contributes to the development of NAFLD in female mice of reproductive age fed a normolipidic (ND) diet and to observe whether this exposure aggravates the development of NAFLD induced by a high-fat (HD) diet. Female C57Bl/6 mice of reproductive age were used. The experimental groups were: Control (CTL); CTL exposed to 0.5 mg/kg/day of HBG (CTL0.5); CTL exposed to 50 mg/kg/day of GBH (CTL50); Ovariectomized (OVX), animals that were operated on to induce ovarian hormone deprivation; OVX exposed to 0.5 mg/kg/day of GBH (OVX0.5); OVX exposed to 50 mg/kg/day of GBH (OVX 50). The animals were

exposed or not to GBH for two months on a normolipid diet and two months on a high- fat diet. Next, exams were performed, such as an evaluation of obesity, insulin

tolerance test, plasma biochemical dosage of nutritional parameters and indicators of liver damage, extraction and analysis of liver lipids, histopathological evaluation of NAFLD and statistical analysis by two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey. The results found no influence of exposure to HBG on the development of NAFLD, changes in insulin sensitivity, and liver damage. However, there was an increase in blood glucose in the fed state in ovariectomized animals from a group exposed to GBH. It implies an alert for further studies and analyses on the causality and possible emergence of a chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs). The results also showed that DH with ovarian hormone deprivation caused a decrease in liver tissue mass, with an increase in cholesterol deposition in the group exposed to the highest dose of GBH but without histomorphological alteration in both situations where the animals were exposed. Our data open the way for the action of HBG on metabolism to be even broader and to interfere with other mechanisms not yet clarified in the literature, which may contribute to the pathophysiology of other CNCDs in addition to NAFLD.