title: DNA damaging effects of pesticides measured by the single cell gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay) and the chromosomal aberration test, in CHOK1 cells.
abstract: One herbicide (isoproturon), two fungicides (carbendazim and chlorothalonil) and etoposide (an effective antitumor agent used as a positive control), were tested for their ability to induce cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHOK1) cells. Etoposide induced DNA damage detectable both by the alkaline Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis (SCGE) assay and the chromosomal aberration (CA) test in absence of noticeable cytotoxicity. With the SCGE assay, a clear induction of DNA damage was observed for chlorothalonil within a 0.2 to 1 microM concentration range. In the CA test, chlorothalonil gave also positive results, inducing mainly chromosome breaks. In contrast, no DNA damage was observed with the SCGE assay for carbendazim and isoproturon. In the CA test, carbendazim induced only numerical aberrations in the concentration range of 25 microM to 100 microM, and isoproturon did not induce any significant increase in CA. In conclusion, chlorothalonil appears genotoxic in proliferative CHOK1 cells, and as expected, the aneugenic compound, carbendazim, did not induce DNA strand breaks in the SCGE assay.
authors.affiliation: INSERM CJF 96-03 and EA 1772, Laboratoire de Cancérologie Expérimentale, Centre François Baclesse, Route de Lion-sur-mer, 14076, Caen Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vigreux
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Poul
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Deslandes
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lebailly
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Godard
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sichel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Henry-Amar
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gauduchon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000633:toxicity; D016466:CHO Cells; D002219:Carbamates; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D006224:Cricetinae; D004249:DNA Damage; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial / Q000633:toxicity; D006540:Herbicides / Q000633:toxicity; D008782:Methylurea Compounds / Q000633:toxicity; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D009570:Nitriles / Q000633:toxicity; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity*; D010671:Phenylurea Compounds
chemical_list: D001562:Benzimidazoles; D002219:Carbamates; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial; D006540:Herbicides; D008782:Methylurea Compounds; D009570:Nitriles; D010575:Pesticides; D010671:Phenylurea Compounds; C028904:isoproturon; C006698:carbendazim; C005806:tetrachloroisophthalonitrile