The potential risks of herbicide butachlor to immunotoxicity via induction of autophagy and apoptosis in the spleen.

Butachlor being an important member of chloroacetanilide herbicides, is frequently used in agriculture to control unwanted weeds. Exposure to butachlor can induce cancer, human lymphocyte aberration, and immunotoxic effects in animals. The current experimental trial was executed to determine the potential risks of herbicide butachlor to immunotoxicity and its mechanism of adverse effects on the spleen. For this purpose, mice were exposed to 8 mg/kg butachlor for 28 days, and the toxicity of butachlor on the spleen of mice was evaluated. We found that butachlor exposure led to an increase in serum ALB, GLU, TC, TG, and TP and changes in the morphological structure of the spleen of mice. More importantly, results showed that butachlor significantly increased the expression level of ATG-5, decreased the protein expression of LC3B and M-TOR, and significantly decreased the mRNA content of M-TOR and p62. Results revealed that the mRNA contents of APAF-1, CYTC, and CASP-9 related genes were significantly decreased after butachlor treatment. Subsequently, the mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-10) were reduced in the spleen of treated mice. This study suggested that butachlor induce spleen toxicity and activate the immune response of spleen tissue by targeting the CYTC/BCL2/M-TOR pathway and caspase cascading activation of spleen autophagy and apoptosis pathways which may ultimately lead to immune system disorders.