In The Name of ALLAH, The Most Merciful, The

Mast Gracious
Presentation Text for Seminar in Biochemistry
Environmental Studies MSc.- Aut. 2013
Effect of Plant Pollution on Neurotransmitters
Supervised By:
Dr. Fatma El Demerdash
Presented By:
Dalia Elsayed

Presentation Objectives:
Link between plant pollution and its effect on
neurotransmitters
Recognize the importance to keep
neurotransmitters free from negative effects
Link between natural mechanisms and life
Presentation Main Topics:
Environment
Pollution
Plant pollution
Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters and plant pollution

Introduction
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41
Pre-known fact from ALLAH, glorified and exalted
be He, is clearly shown by the verse. ALLAH tells us
about what will happen in all ages that is gradually
occurred.
We'll show the relation between the surrounding
environment and the human health and behavior in
the next figure.

Environment
Definition
The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal,
or plant lives or operates:
survival in an often hostile environment, i.e. the setting or
conditions in which a particular activity is carried on: a
good learning environment.
The natural world, as a whole or in a particular
geographical area, especially as affected by human activity:
i.e. the impact of pesticides on the environment.
Pollution
Pollution is the addition to the ecosystem of something
which has a detrimental effect on it. One of the most
important causes of pollution is the high rate of energy
usage by modern, growing populations.

Environmental pollution is any discharge of material or energy

into water, land, or air that causes or may cause acute (shortterm) or chronic (long-term) detriment to the Earth's ecological
balance or that lowers the quality of life.
Classification of environmental pollution is:
Water Pollution
Thermal Pollution
Land Pollution
Pesticide Pollution
Radiation Pollution
Noise Pollution
Air Pollution
Environmental Pollution History
Human beings have always caused some environmental pollution.
Since prehistoric times, people have created waste. Like garbage
today, this waste was either burned, tossed into waterways,
buried, or dumped aboveground. Increasing human populations
have opened the door to more bacteria and disease. By the 1800s,
people began to understand that unsanitary living conditions and
water contamination contributed to disease epidemics.

Why we study Environmental pollution?

-
We study environmental pollution to distinguish between the
normal and abnormal states. When we observe the deviation
from the normal state, we can search for solutions to solve
this deviation. From scientific methods of searching and
problem solving, human can discover a new thing from
surroundings .. This is what is done by west people.
From the facts that we live, in the west, problems are usually
firstly appeared with a high sharpness due to behavior and
environmental corruption, i.e. industrial wastes, that is if we
apply the Qura'nic verse which help us to make better
understanding of things around us.

West people is used to be hard workers in observing and

studying their problems then searching for solutions to solve
them from different directions, either socially, economically,
politically or scientifically They are usually careful to take
all directions of solutions for the one problem to make a
complete solution system for it .. This is a mimic of natural
life systems in all elements .. Simply this is the reason of
why they are preceded and we are stopped! As we
concentrate to solve our problems according to our specific
conditions and culture, not due to west or others vision- with
our own vision- and work hard to study and search for
solutions, as we can be the first In Shaa' ALLAH.

All Of Wise

There is of course a very big wise of all of these from ALLAH,

glorified and exalted be He, the main thing is:
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53 "
This is for the west to see and believe in ALLAH- of course also to
work and do their rule in life partially, and for us to make a
stimulation pulse to not to leave science and of course also for
benefits gained if we forgot . The end result is all of us is
learning from ALLAH's Knowledge as He allow us (west and east
and all people) to learn from his Knowledge from the about 0.1 of
His Great Knowledge, glorified and exalted be He.
This also leads us to the environmental equilibrium of the
creation, morally and physically:
Negatives make learning for positives to differentiate study and
solve.
From Disease, we found the treatment.
Negatives, sometimes, protects positives through either
resistance, or to extract useful resources.

Plant Pollution:
This expression is not recorded, but it means the pollution type
that affects plant.
Pollution Effects On Plants and Trees
Air Pollution
Air pollution is the accumulation in the atmosphere of substances
that, in sufficient concentrations, endanger human health or
produce other measured effects on living matter and other
materials. Among the major sources of pollution are power and
heat generation, the burning of solid wastes, industrial processes,
and, especially, transportation. The six major types of pollutants
are carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides,
particulates, sulfur dioxide, and photochemical oxidants.

Pesticides
Pesticides, sometimes, are classified as type of:
Air Pollution, due to spray in air- Water Pollution, due to mixing
with water- Soil Pollution, due to absorption by soil- Or separate
pollution type, due to its large effect and deep study.
Pesticides are created and used to kill weeds or pests.
Unfortunately, their harmful health effects do not always end with
the pests or weeds they eliminate. A number of the pesticides
currently on the market are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic
or toxic to the nervous system, development or reproduction.
Health effects of a variety of pesticides range from irritation of
skin and eyes, to nervous system damage, to cancer.

How Pesticides Pollute the Environment and Affect Human health?

Pesticides enter and pollute the environment primarily through:
their direct application in agricultural fields,
These chemicals also enter the human body through:
inhalation when one breathes in dust or chemical spray.
through drinking ground water that has been polluted from
runoff from fields or leachate from production and storage
facilities.
through contact with and ingestion of food items sprayed or
contaminated with pesticides . This is our target!
Plant and Pesticides
Chemical and physical properties of a pesticide and interacting
environmental factors determine the behavior of pesticides.
Behavior in turn dictates the ultimate fate of the pesticide.

All aerial portions of the plant are covered by cuticle. The cuticle
inside the stomatal chamber is more polar than the cuticle on the
leaf surface, and the under leaf surface cuticle is more polar than
the upper surface cuticle. The polarity of the cuticle increases
from the waxy leaf surface toward pectins in cell walls and to the
aqueous environment of the cell.
The outer portion of the cuticle favors the entry of relatively
nonpolar
pesticides
like
1,1,
l-trichloro2,2-bis(pchlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) or the long-chain alkyl esters of 2,4dichloro- phenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The inner portion of the
cuticle favors passage of more polar compounds like 2,4-D acid
but restricts the passage of lipophyllic compounds like DDT.
Thus, DDT residues in plants are usually surface residues which
can be removed with solvents which remove the outer cuticle.

Absorption, Surface adsorption,

Volatilization (it adds to the total load of atmospheric pollutants),
Washoff (not absorbed, adsorbed, degraded, or lost through
volatilization, make water or soil contamination),
or Degradation (photochemical, chemical, or biological).
Behavior of Pesticides on Roots:
Translocation,
Storage,

Metabolism .

Pesticides and Neurotransmitters

What are Neurotransmitters?
Neurotransmitters are chemicals (Small Molecules or Hormones),
stored in small Synaptic Vesicles clustered at the tip of the Axon
(terminal buttons). They are released into the Synapse when a
Nerve Impulse arrives for transmission to the next Neuron.
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are used to relay, amplify
and modulate electrical signals between a neuron and another cell.
Neurotransmitters- carry messages across a synapse.

Mechanism of Neurotransmitters Action and Function

Extracted Important Points from This Part:

1- Recycling Process is primarily a natural process that is
occurred, all the time, in our body system and in all of natural
systems around us. This is a call for the optimal use of resources
and a rationalization of consumption patterns. Real science
nowadays makes simulation for the natural life to mimic it,
because he believes that the natural life is created at a very
accurate and right level- from ALLAH, glorified and exalted be
He. Of course current science don't believe right in ALLAH,
glorified and exalted be He .. This is the contradiction of west
real life. So we can benefit this idea through gradual steps to
study the natural systems in details, connect and make relations,
determine functions in each step for further problem solving, and
then mimic the nature at our very small level .. Computer was
from brain, detergents were from digestion juice, and cars were
from animals then try to use the nature that is created for
you for better life to build in earth!

2- Gradual Steps in Biosystems learn us that there is nothing can

be built by sudden, so everything has to take certain scientific
steps to grow. Then you have to Concentrate, work hard, analyze
elements of each thing you are interested in or want to explore,
compose your own model,
and believe that everything
has a wise, mean, and value
to keep it. You are like to
be up the stairs one by one
and you have to take it
respectively and with
awareness ..
Don't step out the nature
and the straightway that are
created from ALLAH,
glorified and exalted be He.

Types of Neurotransmitters
I- Acetylcholine (ACh)- The enzyme choline acetlytransferase
makes ACh by combining
Acetyl CoA + Choline. ACh is involved in muscle contractions,
heart rate, and other behaviors.
II- Monoamines
a) Serotonin (5-HT)- 5-HT appears to be involved in regulating
mood.
b) Dopamine (DA)- DA appears to be involved in reward and
initiating movement.
c) Norepinephrine (NE )- NE appears to contribute to many
behaviors (heart rate, mood, etc.).
III- Amino Acids
a) Glutamate- Glutamate probably contributes to all behavior.
b) GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid)- The loss of GABAergic
neurons will result in seizures because neurons are not inhibited.
IV- Peptides
Example: Enkephalin (5 amino acids)-involved in blocking pain.

How Pesticides affect the neurotransmitters?

Organophosphorus compounds or organophosphates (OPs) form a
large group of chemicals used over the past 60 years for protecting
crops, livestock, human health and as warfare agents. OPs are the
most widely used pesticides worldwide and their metabolites are
widespread across different populations.
The primary mechanism of OPs toxicity is well studied they
function as inhibitors of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AcHE).
Human exposure to OPs is most frequently assessed by
measurement of decrease in AcHE activity. This method is relevant
for professional exposure, where OP concentrations entering to
body are relatively high. However, low OP concentrations, which
are present continuously, do not cause significantly decreased
AcHE activity. Exposure of wider populations must lean on
assessment of OP metabolites, such as alkylphosphate in urine
(Gupta, 2006).

Neurotoxicity of OPs
The primary mechanism of OPs toxicity involves inhibition of the
enzyme AcHE. AcHE is found in synaptic membranes, where it
degrades, through its hydrolytic activity, the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine, producing choline and acetate, a reaction important
for the regulation of synaptic activity in the central and
peripheral neural system. OP cholinesterase inhibitors block the
function of acetylcholinesterase, causing the accumulation of
excessive acetylcholine in the synaptic cleft. This causes
neurotoxic effects such as neuromuscular paralysis (i.e.
continuous muscle contraction) throughout the entire body
(Gupta, 2006).
OPs inhibits AcHE by forming covalent bond between OP and the
active site of AcHE. Spontaneous hydrolysis of OP from the active
site is very slow, sometimes irreversible, resulting in long-term
toxic effects. Novel OPs are altered in such a way that
spontaneous hydrolysis of the OP-AcHE complex is accelerated
(Gupta, 2006).

Symptoms of acute OP poisoning can be divided according to the

site of acetylcholine accumulation in the organism (The next
Figure).

In addition to acute symptoms, some OPs can cause other

symptoms that arise a few days after exposure or poisoning with
OP. Weakness in muscles and breathing difficulties usually
appear 1 4 days after poisoning while, after 7- 21 days,
weakness in peripheral muscles also occurs. The cause of these
delayed symptoms is inhibition of the neuropathy target esterase
(NTE) located in the neural system, rather than AcHE inhibition.
Health effects from chronic exposure to organophosphate
pesticides include memory and attention deficits, as well as
increased depression, anxiety and irritability. 69 Recent studies in
U.S. populations with no obvious symptoms of acute pesticide
exposures have linked higher levels of chronic exposure to
organophosphate insecticides in utero with reduced birth weight,
head circumference, and gestational length in infants.

Pesticides Are Lowering Your IQ and Giving You Neurological

Disorders
Since the late 1990s, three U.S. universities have been
investigating the impact of common chemicals in the
environment on brain development.
Studies recruited hundreds of pregnant women and measured
the amount of pesticides to which their unborn children were
exposed. Children with the highest level of pesticide exposure
showed abnormal reflexes as infants, slowed mental development
at age 2, ADHD-like behaviors by age 5 and significantly lower
IQ scores by age 7.
Researchers at Columbia also performed an MRI study which
revealed that the children with high prenatal pesticide exposure
had altered brain regions corresponding to emotion, social
cognition, and inhibition.

Reducing Your Exposure to Pesticides

Buy local, organic, or sustainably produced.
Wash your produce prior to eating.
Grow your own fruits and vegetables.
Avoid using pesticides in your home and garden.
Advocate for pesticide reduction in your school,
childcare center, and parks.
Choose clothing made from organic or materials.

May ALLAH Reward

You
Thank You