Effects of atrazine on the oxidative damage of kidney in Wister rats.

The environmental persistence and bioaccumulation of herbicide atrazine may pose a significant threat to human health. In this experiment, 4 weeks old female Wister rats were treated by 0, 5, 25 and 125 mg/kg atrazine respectively for 28 days, and the oxidative stress responses as well as the activations of Nrf2 signaling pathway in kidney tissues induced by atrazine were observed. The results showed that after be treated by atrazine, the Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (CREA) levels in serum were increased, the contents of nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the kidney tissue homogenates were increased, the over-expressed Nrf2 transferred into the nuclei and played an antioxidant role by up-regulated the expression of II phase detoxifying enzymes such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO1) and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) and the expression of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px).