Excessive use of organophosphate pesticides (OP), such as dichlorvos, in farming system poses a threat to human health through potential contamination of environment.  To date, biodegradation has been prospected most promising approach to eliminate environmental OP residues.  Trichoderma species as a biological control microorganism is often exposed to the chemical pesticides applied in environments, so it is necessary to understand the mechanism of degradation of dichlorvos by Trichoderma.  In this study, dichlorvos significantly inhibited the growth, sporulation and pigmentation of T. atroviride T23, and the dichlorvos degradation activity of T23 required the initial induction effect of dichlorvos and the culture conditions, including the nutrient and pH values of the medium.  Various changed primary and secondary metabolites released from T23 in the presence of dichlorvos were speculated as the energy and antioxidants for the strain itself to tolerate dichlorvos stress.  The results showed that T23 could produce a series of enzymes, especially the intracellular enzymes, to degrade dichlorvos.  The activities of the intracellular enzyme generated by T23 were differentially changed along time course and especially relied on initial dichlorvos concentration, ammonium sulfate and phosphate added in the medium.  In conclusion, some dichlorvos-induced chemical degradation related enzymes of T23 were proved to be involved in the degradation of dichlorvos.

This study investigated cold plasmas for multiple biological applications.  Our previous work has found dielectric barrier discharge plasma improves chicken sperm quality.  The number of Sertoli cells (SCs) decides spermatogenesis.  However, whether cold plasma can regulate SC proliferation remains unclear.  This study explored the effects of cold plasma on immature chicken SC proliferation and the regulation mechanism.  Results showed that cold plasma exposure at 2.4 W for 30 s twice with an interval of 6 h produced (P<0.05) the maximum SC viability, cell growth, and cell cycle progression.  SC proliferation-promoting effect of cold plasma treatment was regulated by increasing (P<0.05) the adenosine triphosphate production and the respiratory enzyme activity in the mitochondria.  This process was potentially mediated by the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)–mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, which was regulated by the microRNA (miRNA) targeting regulation directly and by the intracellular reactive oxygen species homeostasis indirectly.  The cold plasma treatment increased (P<0.01) the miR-7450-5p expression and led to a decreased (P<0.01) AMPKα1 level.  On the other hand, miR-100-5p expression was reduced (P<0.05) and led to an increased (P<0.05) mTOR level in SCs.  A single-stranded synthetic miR-7450-5p antagomir and a double-stranded synthetic miR-100-5p agomir reduced (P<0.05) the SC proliferation.  However, this could be ameliorated (P<0.05) by the cold plasma treatment.  Our findings suggest that appropriate cold plasma treatment provides a safe strategy to improve SC proliferation, which is beneficial to elevating male chicken reproductive capacity.