Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2017
Enzymatically isolated mesophyll cells of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ‘Kino’] and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. ‘Stoneville 1613 glandless’) were used to study the effects of three surfactants, I = ‘Sterox SK’ (polyoxyethylene thioether), II = ‘Renex 36’ (polyoxyethylene-6-tridecylether), and III = ‘WSCP’ [polyoxyethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene dichloride] alone or in combination with two herbicides, D-497 (1,1-dimethyl-4,6-diisopropyl-5-indanylethyl ketone) and oryzalin (3,5-dinitro-N4,N4-dipropylsulfanilamide) on cell permeability, photosynthetic 14CO2 fixation and cellular ultrastructure. Greatest amount of efflux of 14C-labeled material from soybean cells was caused by III, whereas other surfactants or herbicides produced only slightly higher effluxes than the controls. Mixtures of oryzalin-I or -II were the only combinations that enhanced efflux in soybean cells above that of cells treated with the surfactant or herbicide alone. However, on cotton cells all surfactants and oryzalin caused considerable leakage but no synergistic effects. Sugars were the predominant compounds leaked from the treated and control cells. Disorganization of all cellular membranes was caused by III whereas I and II disrupted only the chloroplast grana-intergrana thylakoids, causing abnormal grana. Herbicidal damage to the cell ultrastructure was minimal. Cells treated with combinations of surfactants and herbicides produced only those ultrastructural symptoms that the individual chemicals caused when applied alone. Photosynthetic CO2 fixation was inhibited in both cotton and soybean cells treated with surfactants and (or) herbicides. Interference with membrane integrity, either directly by interaction with membranes or indirectly by interference with cellular energy generating systems that maintain membrane integrity is the postulated mode of action of these surfactants and herbicides.