Genotoxicity evaluation of pesticide formulations containing alachlor and atrazine in multiple mouse tissues (blood, kidney, liver, bone marrow, spleen) by comet assay
Abstract:
Every year, in the European countries more than 2 million tons of pesticides are released into the environment. More than 60% of those substances appear to be herbicides. Due to extensive production and application of this chemical their putative detrimental effect on life should be known and minimized. In this study we applied the comet assay on blood and 4 mouse organs (kidney, liver, bone marrow, and spleen) to evaluate possible genome damage caused by two pesticide formulations (BravoR and GesaprimR) containing alachlor and atrazine as active ingredients. Five male CBA mice were assigned to each of 4 treatment groups and control group. BravoR and GesaprimR were injected intraperitoneally once. Two different doses of BravoR were used: 0.031 ml/kg and 0.021 µl/kg, so that doses of alachlor mice received within the pesticide formulation given were 15 mg/kg and 0.01 mg/kg. Also GesaprimR was given at two different doses: 1.08 ml/kg and 0.07 µl/kg so that the doses of atrazine contained within the pesticide formulation given were 540 mg/kg and 3.5x10-2 mg/kg. Mice were sacrificed 24 hours after treatment. Alkaline comet assay on the blood samples, kidney, liver, bone marrow and spleen was performed. Statistically significant (p