Genotoxic effects of pesticide fipronil in somatic and generative cells of mice

Abstract

The pronounced genotoxic effect of fipronil in all used doses (4.75, 9.50, 19.00, and 31.70 mg/kg) at a single exposure in the liver, lungs and spleen was ascertained by the Comet assay. Organ specificity of genotoxic effects of the pesticide was revealed. The liver was the most sensitive to fipronil. Fipronil at a dose of 9.50 mg/kg in a single and repeated exposure (within 10 days) induced aberrations in mouse bone marrow cells with the frequency exceeding the spontaneous mutation rate (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). Fipronil also showed genotoxic activity in the germ cells of the experimental animals, causing abnormalities of the structure of synaptonemal complexes in the spermatocytes.