Full Length Research Paper

Investigation of monocrotophos toxic effects on human lymphocytes at cytogenetic level

B. Kalyan Chakravarthi¹, Rambabu Naravaneni², G. H. Philip¹ and C. Srinivasulu Reddy³

¹Department of Biotechnology, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur-515001, Andhra Pradesh, India.

²Genetics Department, Bhagawan Mahavir Medical Research Centre, A. C. Guards, Hyderabad-500 004, Andhra Pradesh, India.

³M.N.R. PG College, Kukatpally, Hyderabad - 500 072 Andhra Pradesh, India.

*Corresponding author. Email: philip_skuniv@yahoo.co.in. Tel: +91-08554-255729.

Accepted 16 April, 2007

The genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of monocrotophos, an organophosphate insecticide, was investi-gated on human lymphocytes cultured in vitro. Utilizing the trypan blue dye exclusion technique assay the IC50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) of monocrotophos was found to be 16 μM. Based on IC50 value, monocrotophos was found to be highly toxic to lymphocyte culture. Chromosomal aberrations induced by monocrotophos were determined using karyotyping. The analysis revealed that more satellite associations, breaks and gaps were found which were statistically significant (P < 0.05) when compared to controls. Comet assay was used to assess the possibility of monocrotophos induction of DNA damage where the increase in comet tail length relates to the extent of DNA single strand breaks. These results indicate that in vitro assays could be used as indicators of cyto- and genotoxic effects of the pesticide on humans, and their end points could be used as biomarkers.

Key words: Chromosomal aberrations, cytotoxicity, DNA damage, genotoxicity, monocrotophos.