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Induction of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis by enrofloxacin in the context of the safety issue of its use in poultry

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Abstract

The overuse of antibiotics in both humans and livestock has led to the antibiotic resistance phenomenon which is now considered one of the biggest problems in the modern world. Some antibiotics used to control or prevent infections in livestock poultry were registered a long time ago, and as a result, data on the possible side effects of their use, both for birds and humans, are incomplete and should be updated. An example of such an antibiotic is enrofloxacin which has been widely used in poultry since 1989. Data in recent years have begun to indicate that this antibiotic induces the process of apoptosis in diverse types of eukaryotic cells. Unfortunately, such studies have never been conducted on chicken models even though it is in poultry that this antibiotic is most commonly used. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to investigate whether enrofloxacin induces apoptosis in chicken cells of the UMNSAH/DF-1 line and to study the molecular mechanism of its action. The results of these experiments indicated that enrofloxacin induces apoptosis in chicken cells but not in human HEK-293 and PC3 cells. This induction was accompanied by changes in the morphology and size of mitochondria, the process of apoptosome formation and activation of executive caspases, which clearly indicates the role of the mitochondrial pathway in the induction of apoptosis by enrofloxacin. This study is the first to show the toxicity of enrofloxacin against chicken cells and to demonstrate the exact mechanism of its action. The results presented in this work show the need to monitor the concentration of antibiotic residues in poultry foods as well as to study their impact on public health to guarantee consumer safety and prevent the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophyscis, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), grant no. SBM-04/21 to ŁG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5A, Warsaw, 02-106, Poland

    Łukasz Grabowski

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk, 80-308, Poland

    Łukasz Grabowski, Marta Choszcz, Karolina Wiśniewska, Lidia Gaffke, Dominika Namiotko, Magdalena Podlacha, Grzegorz Węgrzyn & Karolina Pierzynowska

  3. Phage Therapy Center, University Center for Applied and Interdisciplinary Research, University of Gdansk, Kładki 24, Gdansk, 80-822, Poland

    Alicja Węgrzyn

Authors
  1. Łukasz Grabowski
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  2. Marta Choszcz
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  3. Karolina Wiśniewska
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  4. Lidia Gaffke
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  5. Dominika Namiotko
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  6. Magdalena Podlacha
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  7. Alicja Węgrzyn
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  8. Grzegorz Węgrzyn
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  9. Karolina Pierzynowska
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Contributions

Conceptualization: ŁG and KP,; Methodology: ŁG, AW, GW, KP; Formal analysis and investigation: ŁG, MC, KW, LG, DN, MP; Writing - original draft preparation: ŁG, GW, KP; Writing - review and editing: GW, KP; Funding acquisition: ŁG; Supervision: GW, KP.

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Correspondence to Karolina Pierzynowska.

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Grabowski, Ł., Choszcz, M., Wiśniewska, K. et al. Induction of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis by enrofloxacin in the context of the safety issue of its use in poultry. Apoptosis (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-024-01937-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-024-01937-6

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