Effects of pyrethroid and organophosphorus pesticides on β-hexosaminidase release from rat basophilic leukemia cells (RBL-2H3)

With the increase of imported foods, the question of the safety of post-harvest pesticides and residual pesticides has becomes an important topic in food hygiene. On the other hand, allergic diseases such as atopic dermatitis have been increasing steadily, and this might be related to synthetic chemicals in food and the environment. The effect of pesticides on immediate allergic reaction was evaluated using cultured cells (RBL-2H3) instead of conventional methods based on histamine release from mast cells. Ten kinds of pyrethroid pesticides and 25 kinds of organophosphorus pesticides were investigated for their effects on the enzyme activity of beta -hexosaminidase as an index of chemical mediator release from RBL-2H3 cells. We found that pyrethroid pesticides such as permethrin, pyrethrin, and organophosphorus pesticides such as EPN, prothiofos, terbufos promoted beta -hexosaminidase release. The release induced by these pesticides was found to be 1.7 similar to2.5 times greater than in the control cells. The promotive action was caused by a concentration of pesticide (200 mu mol/L) which had essentially no effect on cell viability. Thus, it was suggested that this release-promotive action was caused by the promotion of chemical mediator release via IgE antibody.