Environmentally relevant pesticides induce biochemical changes in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).

The high demand for food consequently increases the entry of agricultural residues into water resources, and this phenomenon can affect non-target organisms in different ways. Environmentally relevant pesticide effects (per se or in combinations) are scarce in the scientific literature. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate: (1) the presence of pesticide residues in an important Brazilian source of water supply and power generation (Jacuí river), during 1 year of monitoring. (2) in a laboratory study verify the effects of the most frequently, herbicide, fungicide, and insecticide found in Jacuí river (individualized or in a mixture) on biochemical parameters in different tissues of Oreochromis niloticus. Twenty pesticide residues were detected in superficial water samples, and two of them are banned in Brazilian territory. Atrazine (0.56 µg L-1), azoxystrobin (0.024 µg L-1), and imidacloprid (0.11 µg L-1) were the most frequently herbicide, fungicide, and insecticide, respectively, found in the river and were used in the laboratory assay. O. niloticus exposed to the pesticide mixture exhibited more biochemical effects than individualized exposure groups. This response can be a result of the combined pesticide effects, culminating in an additive or synergistic effect, depending on the biomarker. In individual exposure groups, atrazine presented the most pronounced alterations, followed by azoxystrobin and imidacloprid. Overall, pesticide exposure increased levels of oxidative stress parameters, reduced antioxidant enzyme activities, and induced acetylcholinesterase activity. These findings highlight the threat to aquatic organisms which may be exposed to a miscellaneous of toxic compounds in the environment.

A three-dimensional metal-organic polymer: poly[bis(µ2-pyrimidine-2-thiolato-κ4N¹,S:S,N³)lead(II)].

The title compound, [Pb(C4H3N2S)2]n, was prepared by the reaction of [Pb(OAc)2]·3H2O (OAc is acetate) with pyrimidine-2-thione in the presence of triethylamine in methanol. In the crystal structure, the Pb(II) atom has an N4S4 coordination environment with four ligands coordinated by N- and S-donor atoms. This compound shows that the pyrimidine-2-thiolate anion can lead to a three-dimensional network when the coordination number of the metal ion can be higher than 6, as is the case with the Pb(II) ion. This compound presents only covalent bonds, showing that despite the possibility of the hemidirected geometries of Pb(II), the eight-coordinated ion does not allow the formation of an isolated molecular structure with pyrimidine-2-thiolate as the ligand.