The triazine herbicide simazine is a pesticide commonly detected in surface and ground waters, although banned in most European countries since 2004. Concerns for humans and animal health result from its potential endocrine disrupting action, that can lead to reproductive disorders. The present in vitro study was undertaken to study simazine effects on swine granulosa cell function, namely cell viability, proliferation, steroidogenesis and NO production. Moreover, the ability of this substance to interfere with the angiogenetic process, a crucial event in reproductive function, was taken into account. Our data document that simazine treatment, at 0.1 or 10 μM concentration levels, stimulates granulosa cell proliferation and viability and impairs steroidogenesis, increasing in particular progesterone production. In addition, the in vitro angiogenesis bioassay revealed a significant simazine stimulatory effect on immortalized porcine Aortic Endothelial Cell proliferation. Collectively, these results show that simazine can display disruptive effects on ovarian cell functional parameters, possibly resulting in reproductive dysfunction. This hypothesis is also supported by the observed pro-angiogenetic properties of this herbicide, as already suggested for different endocrine disruptors.
Keywords: angiogenesis; endocrine disruptor; ovarian function; simazine; swine granulosa cells.