Evaluation of roundup® toxicity in human lung cells

Objective: In this study, toxic effects of Roundup, one of the most common glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), were assessed on human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). Material and Method: MTT and neutral red uptake assays were implemented for evaluation of cell viability at 24 and 48 h. Apoptosis detection was made by Muse analyzer while Hoechst staining was employed to detect apoptotic nuclear changes. In addition, dichlorofluorescein diacetate assay was used for the assessment of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Result and Discussion: Similar half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) were obtained from cytotoxicity assays. Results showed that significant reduction in the viability of BEAS-2B cells started to occur from 200 µM at 24 h and 50 µM at48 h treatment times. Roundup treatments for both time points were found to dose-dependently cause apoptosis and were also observed to induce cellular ROS formation. These findings suggest that GBHs can stimulate ROS production, as well as apoptosis on healthy human lung cells which is important considering inhalation is one of the primary exposure routes to these group of chemicals.