Role of ROS generation in acute genotoxicity of azoxystrobin fungicide on freshwater snail Lymnaea luteola L.

Azoxystrobin (AZ) is an aryloxy pyrimidine fungicide extensively applied in the agriculture field all over the world. There is a little information about the ecotoxicity of AZ fungicide on the freshwater snail Lymnaea luteola (L. luteola). The present study investigated the toxic effect of AZ fungicide on L. luteola by using various measures. We determined the mean LC value-96 h of AZ fungicide (0.79 mg/L) for L. luteola, in a static system. Based on this value, three sublethal concentrations, viz., I (0.079 mg/L), II (~ 0.40 mg/L), and III (~ 0.53 mg/L), were determined. The snails were exposed to these three concentrations of AZ fungicide for 96 h, and hemolymph and digestive glands were collected after 24 and 96 h for assessment of oxidative stress, apoptosis, and histological and genotoxic changes. The induction of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis in hemocyte cells was increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. It was observed that lipid peroxide (LPO) and glutathione S transferase (GST) were increased, and glutathione and superoxide dismutase decreased in digestive glands. A similar trend was observed for the DNA damage as measured in terms of the percentage of tail DNA and olive tail moment in digestive gland cells. This study showed the collective use of oxidative stress, histological, and genotoxicity parameters in in vivo laboratory studies using snails that are useful for screening the toxic potential of environmental contaminants such as AZ fungicide.Graphical abstract.