Hernán Hurtado-Giraldo; Linda P. Rocha-Muñoz; Natalia I. Romero-Osorio; Sergio Conde-Ocazionez; Rafael Coveñas & Ewing Duque-Díaz

The effects of glyphosate, aminomenthylphosphoric acid (AMPA) and Roundup® Active on the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity area were studied in male rats in the following hypothalamic nuclei: anterior hypothalamic, lateroanterior hypothalamic, ventrolateral hypothalamic (VLH), preoptic area, paraventricular, periventricular, suprachiasmatic and supraoptic (SO). No difference in water intake containing these xenobiotics was observed (p > 0.05). A significant increase in the GFAP immunoreactivity area was only observed in VLH in animals treated with glyphosate or Roundup® Active, whereas in SO, only the exposure to Roundup® Active resulted in a larger GFAP immunoreactivity area. AMPA did not affect the GFAP immunoreactivity areas of the hypothalamic nuclei. Small/ medium size astrocytes containing GFAP, and typical cytoplasmic processes were observed in most cases, but large and overlapping astrocytic processes were visualized in SO. GFAP immunoreactivity increase suggests a neuro-inflammatory reaction due to xenobiotics. These results are compatible with a pronounced effect of adjuvants and surfactants present in glyphosate commercial formulations.

HURTADO-GIRALDO, H.; ROCHA-MUÑOZ, L. P.; ROMERO-OSORIO, N. I.; CONDE-OCAZIONEZ, S.; COVEÑAS, R. & DUQUE-DÍAZ, E. Glyphosate-based herbicide exposure increases gfap-immunoreactivy in ventral lateral hypothalamic and supraoptic nuclei of male rats. Int. J. Morphol.,43(4):1122-1127, 2025.