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Genotoxicity of the herbicide imazethapyr in mammalian cells by oxidative DNA damage evaluation using the Endo III and FPG alkaline comet assays

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 24, pages 10292–10300 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

We evaluated the role of oxidative stress in the genotoxic damage induced by imazethapyr (IMZT) and its formulation Pivot® in mammalian CHO-K1 cell line. Using the alkaline comet assay, we observed that a concentration of 0.1 μg/mL of IMZT or Pivot® was able to induce DNA damage by increasing the frequency of damaged nucleoids. To test whether the DNA lesions were caused by oxidative stress, the DNA repair enzymes endonuclease III (Endo III) and formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase (Fpg), which convert base damage to strand breaks, were used. Our results demonstrate that after treatment of CHO-K1 cells with the pure active ingredient as well as the commercial formulation Pivot®, an increase in DNA strand breaks was observed after incubation of both Endo III and Fpg enzymes, indicating that both compounds induce DNA damage involving both pyrimidine and purine-based oxidations, at least in CHO-K1 cells. Our findings confirm the genotoxic potential of IMZT and suggest that this herbicide formulation must be employed with great caution, especially not only for exposed occupational workers but also for other living species.

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Abbreviations

Endo III:

Endonuclease III

Fpg:

Formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase

GDI:

Genetic damage index

IMZT:

imazethapyr

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from the National University of La Plata (Grants 11/N746 and 11/N817), the National Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion (PICT-2015, No. 3059), and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET, PIP No. 0344) from Argentina.

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Affiliations

  1. Cátedra de Citología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 64 Nro. 3 (esq. 120), B1904AMA, La Plata, Argentina

    Sonia Soloneski, Celeste Ruiz de Arcaute, Noelia Nikoloff & Marcelo L. Larramendy

  2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Sonia Soloneski, Celeste Ruiz de Arcaute, Noelia Nikoloff & Marcelo L. Larramendy

Authors
  1. Sonia Soloneski
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  2. Celeste Ruiz de Arcaute
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  3. Noelia Nikoloff
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  4. Marcelo L. Larramendy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcelo L. Larramendy.

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Responsible editor: Henner Hollert

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Soloneski, S., Ruiz de Arcaute, C., Nikoloff, N. et al. Genotoxicity of the herbicide imazethapyr in mammalian cells by oxidative DNA damage evaluation using the Endo III and FPG alkaline comet assays. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 10292–10300 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8666-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8666-5

Keywords

  • Comet assay
  • Imazethapyr-based formulation
  • Imidazolinone herbicides
  • Oxidative DNA damage