The alarming link between neonicotinoid insecticides and kidney injury

Abstract

Neonicotinoid insecticides (NEOs) have been extensively approved for application in agricultural production both in China and globally. Previous studies indicated that human exposure to NEOs would have adverse health effects. However, studies on occurrences of NEOs in kidney injury patients and their association with nephrotoxicity are limited. This study investigates the potential correlation between exposure to NEOs and kidney injury within a subset (n = 224) of the population residing in South China. Levels of 8 NEOs and 5 metabolites were quantified in blood samples obtained from both the 110 healthy and 114 kidney injury cohorts in South China. We found that target analytes were frequently detected in samples from the healthy and kidney injury cohorts (61%–100 %). Dinotefuran is the predominant NEO in the healthy (42.3 %) and kidney injury cohort (49.6 %). Significantly positive (p < 0.05) associations between blood NEO concentrations and kidney injury were found, indicating that these pollutants may increase the odds of human kidney injury prevalence. Through multilinear regression analysis, it was observed that the concentrations of various NEOs exhibited a significant association (p < 0.05) with hematological parameters linked to nephrotoxicity. Our study represents the pioneering investigation examining the relationships between NEOs and kidney injury, thereby offering novel insights into the nephrotoxicity associated with these pollutants. This discovery carries significant implications for public health policies and environmental conservation practices.

Keywords

• Neonicotinoid insecticides
• Metabolites
• Human exposure
• Kidney injury