Lack of genotoxic potential of permethrin in mice evaluated by the comet assay and micronucleus test

ABSTRACT

Permethrin is a common insecticide that does not show genotoxic potential in standard in vitro and in vivo assays. To investigate the genotoxic potential of permethrin in more detail, two in vivo studies were conducted on female mice to assess DNA damage in tumor target organs by the comet assay and micronucleus test. For this, mice were administered permethrin at doses of 150, 300, or 600 mg/kg/day by gavage for 2 days, and their lung, liver, glandular stomach, peripheral blood, and bone marrow cells were examined for DNA damage. There were no significant increases in % tail DNA in the organs examined and no increase in micronuclei in peripheral blood by flow cytometry. Taken together, the present findings provide evidence that permethrin has no genotoxic, aneugenic, or clastogenic potential.

KEYWORDS:

• Permethrin
• in vivo comet assay
• in vivo micronucleus test
• flow cytometry
• non-genotoxic mode of action

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Professor Samuel M. Cohen (Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center) for valuable scientific advice. We also thank the other contributors to this research project from Sumitomo Chemical Company Ltd.

Geolocation information

This study was conducted in Japan.

Disclosure statement

The authors are employed by Sumitomo Chemical Company Ltd.