The effects of simazine, a chlorotriazine herbicide, on expression of genes in developing male Xenopus laevis

Numerous studies have shown simazine produces adverse effects on growth, development, immune and endocrine system functions in a wide range of species, few describe gene expression changes concurrent with simazine-induced changes in phenotype during development. In this report, developing Xenopus laevis tadpoles were chronically exposed to simazine for 90 days at dosages of 0.1, 1, 10 and 100µg/L. Affymetrix microarrays and Taqman RT-PCR were used to define gene expression changes in male tadpoles exposed to 100µg/L atrazine. Developing tadpoles (NF stage 46) were treated with concentrations (ranging from ecologically relevant to very great) of simazine for 90 days. Then three testis from Simazine group and two testis from control group were chose for microarray analysis.