Protective Potential of Vitamin C and E against Organophosphate Toxicity: Current Status and Perspective

Pesticides are an integral part of our daily life, used in agricultural fields, store rooms, residences and educational institutions to kill or repel pests. Several chemical subtypes of these compounds are available, of which organophosphate (OP) is major one. These are broad spectrum pesticides used to kill insect pests. OPs are useful but indeed they are most frequent reasons of pesticide poisoning across the globe. OP inhibits acetylcholinesterase activities that results in continuous hyper-excitable state of nicotinic and muscarinic receptors at neuromuscular junctions. Intentional or unintentional exposure to OPs causes abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, muscular weakness, dementia, Central Nervous System (CNS) dysfunction and even death. Besides acetylcholinesterase inhibition, OPs are also known to trigger ROS generation within the cellular machinery which results in Oxidative Stress (OS). Free Radicals (FRs) are neutralized by antioxidant-defense system of the body. Vitamin C and vitamin E are the major exogenous antioxidants that scavenge a large amount of free radicals by donating their own electrons to FRs. This phenomenon reduces ROS and hence, OS is prevented. Therefore, vitamin C and E can be considered for daily dietary intake which might be providing prophylactic advantage against OP induced OS and pathophysiology in human beings.