Vol. 11, Issue 11 (2022)

Insecticides are frequently used pesticides throughout the world which seem to be indispensable in modern agricultural production systems. In the present study we predicted the in silico ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Elimination) properties and multifarious kinds of biological activity including pharmacological effects, mechanisms of action, toxic and adverse effects, interaction with metabolic enzymes and transporters, influence on gene expression, etc. of the pesticide Ethion, by using SwissADME and PASS Online web portals. In vivo hematological alterations following sub-chronic exposure to ethion in male Wistar albino rats and its amelioration by quercetin and nano-quercetin was studied. Ethion cleared all SwissADME filters for the properties like physicochemical property, lipophilicity, water solubility, pharmacokinetics, drug likedness and medicinal chemistry. PASS Online predicted multitudinal adverse effects of ethion, among which, reproductive toxicity predominated. Ethion induced a significant dose dependent increase in hematological parameters like WBC count, lymphocytes and granulocytes percentage, RDW-SD and P-LCC, whereas a decrease was evident in RBC count, MCV, MCH, MCHC, PLT, hemoglobin and hematocrit values as compared to control group respectively. The ethion exposed rats that were co-administered/concurrently dosed with quercetin as well as nano-quercetin evinced a significant ameliorating potential for quercetin as compared to ethion high dose and control.