LAUSR

Agricultural airborne work exposures are complex in nature and workplace exposures are a risk for respiratory outcomes in workers. Endotoxin and glyphosate are two common agents in agricultural exposures. While endotoxin (lipopolysaccaride, LPS) is a potent inflammatory agent it explains only a portion of the respiratory inflammatory response. The inflammatory potential when LPS is presented with another common agricultural respiratory agent, glyphosate, is not known. METHODS Mice were assigned to four treatment groups: control, LPS alone, glyphosate alone, glyphosate and LPS combined. Treatments were for 1, 5 or 10 days. RESULTS Five days of repeated exposure to the comintation of LPS and glyphosate resulted in higher neutrophil counts, myloperoxidase, TNF-α, IL-6, KC levels, and ICAM-1 and TLR-2 expression compared to the same length of treatment to LPS or glyphosate alone. After 10-days of exposure, inflammatory responses decreased, however leukocyte infiltration persisted along with increases in IL-4. CONCLUSIONS Glyphosate exposure modified LPS induced lung inflammatory responses and TLR-2 may be important in the modulated inflammatory response.