Publisher's Synopsis
Organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) are globally used in modern agriculture, industries and household for pest-control purposes, public health and for prevention of infectious diseases. They are extensively used in agriculture for pest-control purposes to increase the productivity of crops to meet the demand of escalating population (Jaga et al., 2003). However, their persistent exposure poses threat to environment as well as human health. OPPs poisoning is a leading cause of morbidity in developing countries (Buckley et al., 2004). OPPs poisonings is more prevalent among the agricultural workers, manufacturing workers, and small children (O'malley, 1997). Substantial exposure of OPPs has been speculated to be associated with various human pathologies including cancer (Alavanja et al., 2012; Chen, 2012). Apart from their neurotoxic nature as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors (Kwong 2002), OPPs have been also reported to induce oxidative stress and cause oxidative damage to the cells. Studies have indicated that OPPs stimulate oxidative stress (Abdollahi et al., 2004; Shadnia et al., 2005); that may contribute to the chronic inflammation and carcinogenesis (Federico et al., 2007). Mostly used OPPs are chlorpyrifos (CP) and monocrotophos (MCP). Genotoxic potential of CP and MCP in human health has been well explained. Various studies using in vitro and in vivo models have shown that CP and MCP induce generation of ROS, apoptosis, oxidative DNA damage, chromosome aberrations and alterations in cell-cycle (Bebe et al., 2003; Chauhan et al., 2016; Kashyap et al., 2011; Kashyap et al., 2010; Salazar- Arredondo et al., 2008). MCP has been shown to induce MCF7 breast cancer cell proliferation (Isoda et al., 2004).
