Gene Expression Profiling in Surrogate Tissues to Identify Biomarkers Following Conazole Exposure

Abstract

Conazoles are a class of azole fungicides which are used for agricultural and pharmaceutical applications. This study examined two conazoles that possess a range of reproductive, carcinogenic, and neurodevelopmental effects. Sprague-Dawley rats were dosed daily by oral gavage for 14 days with triadimefon (5 or 115 mg/kg/day) or myclobutanil (10 or 150 mg/kg/day). Relative liver weight increased following high dose triadimefon and myclobutanil exposure. Weight changes were not observed in testes, nor were there significant changes in serum testosterone levels. Microarray analysis of 4,370 genes yielded forty-eight differentially expressed genes in blood. Of these, nine genes were found to be concordant with liver and testis gene expression data.