Effects of Glyphosate and Roundup Herbicides on Cardiac and H9c2 Cells' Mitochondrial Respiration and Oxidative Stress.

Fiche publication

Date publication

mai 2026

Journal

International journal of molecular sciences

Auteurs

Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr GENY Bernard

Tous les auteurs :
Rihani R, Charles AL, Oulehri W, Lejay A, Charloux A, Giannini M, Meyer A, Geny B

Lien Pubmed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/42196559

Résumé

Herbicides, used worldwide to improve agricultural yields, are associated with pollution and significant health problems. Cardiac damage is a major concern, and the respective contributions of glyphosate (GP) and its commercial formulation, Roundup (RU), warrant investigation. We studied the specific effects of GP and RU on isolated rat cardiac mitochondria and on H9c2 cardiomyocytes cultured for 6 and 24 h to determine whether the potential cardiotoxicity of GP and/or RU are linked to impaired mitochondrial respiration and increased hydrogen peroxide (HO) production. To this end, we used various mitochondrial complex substrates and a high-resolution oxygraphy. Unlike the GP alone which demonstrated no significant effect, the RU decreased cardiac mitochondrial respiration (21.90 ± 2.99 vs. 41.23 ± 7.09 pmol/s/mL, -46.9%, = 0.007) for OXPHOS CI in respectively the RU and the control groups. RU also impaired OXPHOS CI+II (-51.5%, = 0.003), maximal mitochondrial respiration (ETS CI+II, -46.7%, = 0.001) and coupling (-35.4%, = 0.0003). Similarly, 24 h exposure to RU decreased H9c2 cell number (-48.59%, = 0.0023) but increased their mitochondrial respiration (+38.2%, = 0.03, +37.6%, = 0.03, +43.2%, = 0.03 for OXPHOS CI, OXPHOS CI+II and ETS CI+II respectively). We observed a similar trend (NS) after 24 h exposure to GP. In conclusion, these results support an enhanced cardiac toxicity of the Roundup as compared to the glyphosate. Both decreased mitochondrial respiration and increased hydrogen peroxide production were involved in isolated mitochondria impairment. After 24 h exposure to Roundup, a compensatory mechanism potentially counterbalanced the decreased H9c2 cell number. These data support future studies aiming to reduce Roundup-associated cardiac alterations not only by reducing its use but also by investigating the effectiveness of antioxidant and mitochondria-focused therapy.