Tebuconazole (TEB) is a triazole fungicide widely used in agriculture known to cause metabolic and endocrine disorders in mammals. Several plant extracts have shown to be beneficial against pesticide effects due to their hepatoprotective, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. As fruit bats play a critical role in rainforest regeneration and are constantly exposed to pesticides, we aimed at evaluating TEB-induced toxicity and the possible protective effect of the Ficus carica plant extract in Neotropical fruit-eating bats (Artibeus lituratus). Bats were captured and assigned to 4 experimental groups, offered: 1) CTL (n = 6): papaya; 2) DMSO (n = 6): papaya treated with 1.25% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO); 3) TEB (n = 6): papaya treated with tebuconazole (commercial formulation) 0.1%; and 4) TEBFC (n = 6): papaya treated with tebuconazole 0.1% and Ficus carica extract (20%) in DMSO (1.25%). After seven days of exposure, TEB bats showed increased lipid peroxidation, increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, vascular congestion and inflammatory infiltrate in the liver, and increased serum transaminase enzyme activities. We found the same alterations in oxidative stress parameters in the breast muscles of TEB-exposed bats. In the testes, all oxidative stress markers were increased in TEB bats and corroborate findings of histopathological and increased serum testosterone levels observed following TEB exposure. The co-administration of the fungicide with the F. carica plant extract attenuated most oxidative stress markers in exposed bats’ liver and testes and decreased liver damage, but failed to revert the steroid imbalance caused by the fungicide exposure.

Tebuconazole（TEB）是一种三唑类杀菌剂，广泛用于农业领域，已知会引起哺乳动物的代谢和内分泌疾病。几种植物提取物由于具有保肝，抗氧化和消炎作用，因此显示出对农药作用的有益效果。由于果蝠在热带雨林的再生中起着关键作用，并且不断地暴露于农药中，因此我们旨在评估TEB诱导的毒性以及无花果榕植物提取物在新热带果蝠（Artibeus lituratus）中的可能的保护作用。）。捕获蝙蝠并将其分配到4个实验组，提供：1）CTL（n = 6）：木瓜；2）DMSO（n ＝ 6）：用1.25％二甲基亚砜（DMSO）处理过的木瓜；3）TEB（n = 6）：木瓜用0.1％戊唑醇处理（商业配方）；和4）TEBFC（n = 6）：木瓜用0.1％戊唑醇和无花果处理在DMSO（1.25％）中提取（20％）。暴露7天后，TEB蝙蝠显示脂质过氧化增加，超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）活性增加，肝脏血管充血和炎性浸润以及血清转氨酶活性增加。我们发现暴露于TEB的蝙蝠的胸部肌肉中的氧化应激参数发生了相同的变化。在睾丸中，所有氧化应激标记物在TEB蝙蝠中均增加，并证实了TEB暴露后观察到的组织病理学发现和血清睾丸激素水平升高。杀真菌剂与F. carica的共同给药 植物提取物减弱了蝙蝠裸露的肝脏和睾丸中的大多数氧化应激标志物，并降低了肝脏损害，但未能恢复由于暴露于杀真菌剂引起的类固醇失衡。