New insights into lung health risk for female farmers

Exposure to a mix of common airborne agricultural contaminants could lead to lung effects in females, a new University of Saskatchewan (USask) study has uncovered.

Farmers are exposed daily to a variety of potential contaminants such as endotoxins (substances associated with certain bacteria) in dust, which are well-known to trigger lung inflammation and asthma. However, how endotoxins specifically impact women’s health is not well understood, particularly when there is also exposure to a herbicide called glyphosate, widely used in agricultural work.

Now, USask researchers have detected lung effects in female mice models just five days after a combined exposure, simulating the same quantity of endotoxins and herbicide farmers could breathe over a work week.

The team was able to take detailed images of the affected lungs thanks to the powerful X-rays of the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at USask.

These images showed that fluid had built up in the lungs during this short exposure period. The alveoli – the small air sacks that play a crucial role in breathing – also became thicker, overall showing more impact than that found in mice dosed only with a single contaminant.

These results were recently published in Scientific Reports as one of the first studies focusing on agricultural airborne exposure in female mice.

“Five days is a very short time but still we were able to pick up really fine nuances. The combination of endotoxins and glyphosate was making the lungs as thick, if not more,” said Gurpreet Aulakh, Fedoruk Chair in Imaging Science and associate professor in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at USask.

The lung effects caused by the combination of substances would have gone undetected if not for the technological capabilities of the CLS’ BMIT beamline to provide imaging on live animals and at a high resolution.

“The interpretation of the CLS results showcases the impacts of these exposures. To me,  it is the unique imaging instrumentation and sophisticated interpretation. It allows us to move forward the understanding that there are these changes that we couldn’t see with the other measurements,” said Dean Chapman, expert in synchrotron imaging and professor in the USask College of Medicine.

For the research team, these results reinforce the importance of advocating for safety in the workplace, including specifically for women who now make up 30% of Canadian farmers, according to the latest Canadian Census of Agriculture.

“In the USask Canadian Center for Rural and Agricultural Health, we're about protecting the people who live and work in rural areas, and this research addresses one of those common exposures,” said Director Shelley Kirychuk.

“We always recommend personal protective equipment to protect yourself from respiratory exposures. So, wear a mask, an N95, during exposures.

This 5-day exposure research in female mice was part of USask student Kaitlin Merkowsky’s PhD project.  The future work focuses on the effects of the exposure to endotoxins and herbicide over a time-course and changes it might cause in both male and female mice lungs.

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Merkowsky, Kaitlin, Shelley Kirychuk, Gurpreet K. Aulakh, Brooke Thompson, Upkardeep S. Pandher, David Schneberger, Baljit Singh, Farangis Foroughi, and Dean Chapman. "Lung inflammation after repeated exposure to LPS and glyphosate in female mice." Scientific Reports (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-58018-8

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Greg Basky
Communications Coordinator
Canadian Light Source
306-370-9446
greg.basky@lightsource.ca