The association of urinary chlorpyrifos, paraquat, and cyproconazole levels with the severity of fatty liver based on MRI 

Background: The objective of this study was to detect the urinary levels of chlorpyrifos, paraquat, and cyproconazole in residents living in Fuyang City and to analyze the correlation between these urinary pesticides levels and the severity of fatty liver disease (FLD). Methods: : All participants’ fat fraction (FF) values were recorded by MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging). First-morning urine samples were collected from 53 participants from Fuyang Peoples’Hospital. The levels of three urinary pesticides were measured using β-glucuronidase hydrolysis followed by a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based (LC-MS) method. The results were analyzed by using Pearson correlation analysis and binary logistic regression analysis to reveal the correlation between three urinary pesticides and the severity of fatty liver. Results: : 53 individuals were divided into 3 groups based on the results from MRI, with 20 cases in the normal control group, 16 cases in the mild fatty liver group, and 17 cases in the moderate and severe fatty liver group. Urinary chlorpyrifos level was increased along with the increase of the severity of fatty liver. Urinary paraquat level was significantly higher both in the low-grade fatty liver group and moderate & serve grade fatty liver group compared with the control group but there was no significant difference between the low-grade fatty liver group and moderate & serve grade fatty liver group. No significant differences in urinary cyproconazole levels were observed among the three groups. Furthermore, urinary chlorpyrifos and paraquat levels were positively correlated with FF value. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that chlorpyrifos was the risk factor that may be involved in the development of FLD and ROC curve analysis showed that chlorpyrifos and paraquat may serve as potential predictors of FLD. Conclusion: The present findings indicate urinary chlorpyrifos and paraquat were positively correlated with the severity of fatty liver. Moreover, urinary chlorpyrifos and paraquat have the potential to be considered as the predictors for development of FLD. Thus, this study may provide a new perspective from the environmental factors for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of FLD.