First biochemical and behavioural analysis of the response of the scorpion Urophonius brachycentrus (Thorell: 1876) upon exposure to an organophosphate

Abstract

Scorpionism is an increasing public health problem in the world. Although no specificmethodology or product is currently available for the control of those arachnids, the useof insecticides could be an effective tool. Chlorpyrifos is one of the insecticides used,but to date, whether scorpions recognise surfaces with that insecticide and how itaffects their physiology and/or biochemistry is unknown. In the present study, weobserved that scorpions recognise surfaces with 0.51 and 8.59 μg/cm2 of chlorpyrifosand avoid those areas. The 0.51 μg/cm2 concentration produced a decrease in acetylcholinesterase and an increase in catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathioneS-transferase, whereas the 8.59 μg/cm2 concentration evoked a decrease in acetylcholinesterase and an increase in catalase and glutathione S-transferase. Using the cometassay, we observed that the insecticide at 0.17, 0.51 and 8.59 μg/cm2 caused DNA damage.Finally, we found that the insecticide does not generate significant variations in glutathioneperoxidase, glutathione reductase, the amount of protein or lipid peroxidation.The present results offer a comprehensive understanding of how scorpions respond,both at the biochemical and behavioural levels, when exposed to insecticides.