Genotoxic activity of a technical toxaphene mixture and its photodegradation products in the SOS genotoxicity tests
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2005 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | MUTATION RESEARCH-GENETIC TOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MUTAGENESIS |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Environment influence on health |
| Keywords | Toxaphene; genotoxicity assays; SOS response; umuC test; photodegradation; UV-irradiation |
| Description | Toxaphene (CAS No. 800-35-2) is a complex mixture of several hundred components, that was used worldwide primarily as an agricultural pesticide with insecticide effects in the second half of the 20th century. In vitro investigations of genotoxicity and mutagenicity of toxaphene were in literature generally described, but they provided somewhat equivocal results. We re-evaluated the technical toxaphene in two prokaryotic systems. The SOS Chromotest showed high sensitivity to toxaphene. Three highest concentrations (40, 20 and 10 mg/l) were clearly positive and the dose-response effect was evident. In the umuC assay at concentrations from 2.5 to 40.0 mg/l, a dose-dependent increase in genotoxic activity was observed, but these results were found to be insignificant. Genotoxicity of toxaphene and its photodegradation products was also examined in this study after UV irradiation (3-6-9 h) at concentrations from 7.5 to 60.0 mg/l. Irradiated solution of technical toxaphene after 3 h showed no significant evidence of growth inhibition. However exposure of Salmonella to 6-h UV-irradiated toxaphene showed toxic effect compared to negative control. After 9-h irradiation rapid decrease of bacterial growth was observed. Activity of grbeta-galactosidase of toxaphene solution was markedly increased after 6 and 9 h irradiation and significantly reached 2.4-times, respectively 3.1-times higher values relative to control variant and exceeded the criteria of a significant genotoxicity. These results show that while technical toxaphene is a weak, direct-acting mutagen in some bacterial tests, the evidence of dose-dependent toxicity and genotoxicity its photoproducts could be conclusively demonstrated by umuC testing procedure. |
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