RESEARCH ARTICLE Alteration of membrane integrity and respiratory function of brain mitochondria in the rats chronically exposed to a low dose of acetamiprid Salim Gasmi 1 & Mohammed Kebieche 2,3 & Rachid Rouabhi 1 & Chouaib Touahria 4 & Asma Lahouel 2 & Zohra Lakroun 2 & Sara Henine 1 & Rachid Soulimani 3 Received: 9 January 2017 /Accepted: 3 August 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 Abstract The pesticides are used in several fields of agriculture and farms to protect crops against harmful insects and herbs. The increased and uncontrolled use of these pollutants is very haz- ardous for the population health. Consumption of contaminated food matrices with these pesticides could impair the cell integrity and its molecular function. The main aim of this present study was to evaluate the alteration of the integrity of mitochondrial membranes and respiratory chain potential in the brain of rats exposed during 90 days to acetamiprid (AC), organochlorine of the new generation. After oral administration of AC in rats with 3.14 mg/kg of body weight, the results of this current study showed enhance in mitochondrial oxidative stress status by sig- nificant decrease of glutathione (GSH) level, glutathione pyroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT) activities. On the other hand, there is an increase in the enzymatic activity of the gluta- thione s-transferase (GST) and superoxide dismutase (SOD); at the same time, the MDA level was also highly increased. Furthermore, evaluation results of brain mitochondrial integrity revealed a significant increase in membrane permeability and mitochondrial swelling in rats exposed chronically to AC. Instead, other results of this present work showed a significant decrease in mitochondrial respiration potent (O 2 consumption) in acetamiprid-treated rats. In conclusion, the long duration ex- position of the animals to AC has led to respiratory chain dys- function, disturbance of matrix oxidative status, and a loss of mitochondrial membranes integrity. Keywords Acetamiprid . Brainmitochondria . Mitochondrial swelling . Membrane permeability . Oxidative stress . Rats Introduction Pesticides are used widely in agriculture to control insects all over the world with more than 10,000 commercial formulations of approximately 450 pesticidal compounds currently in use (Yousef et al. 2003). Neonicotinoid insecticides, as a replace- ment of organophosphates, have been used globally for the treat- ment of agricultural pests. The most common neoincotinoid insecticides include imidacloprid, acetamiprid, nitenpyram, and clothianidin (Tian 2016). In particular, acetamiprid is a new range of organo-chlorinated insecticides. Although, the com- pound belongs to the neonicotinoïdes, it has different character- istic insecticidal properties from the others in the same category of the chemical structure; it is able to alter directly the central nervous system of the insect by disturbing the receiver of ace- tylcholine in synapses (EFSA 2013). AC presents excellent ac- tivities against Hemiptera, Thysanoptera, and the lepidopterans and causes agonistic effects by binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAchRs), resulting in abnormal excitation, paralysis, and death of pest organisms (Tian 2016). It is also applicable to fight against the parasites of plants, fruits, trees, and the tea tree (Carole and Harvé 2011). There exist various types of harmful devastating insects of the agricultural cultures and the develop- ment of resistance to insecticides in many harmful insects such as the tinea of cruciferous and louses became a serious problem Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Mohammed Kebieche kebiechem2016@gmail.com 1 Laboratory of Toxicology, University of Tebessa, 12002 Tebessa, Algeria 2 Laboratory of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of Jijel, 18000 Jijel, Algeria 3 Laboratory of Food Neurotoxicology and Bioactivity, University of Metz, Metz, France 4 Department of biology, University of Annaba, 23000 Annaba, Algeria Environ Sci Pollut Res DOI 10.1007/s11356-017-9901-9