In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of Furia^®180 SC (zeta-cypermethrin) and Bulldock 125^®SC (β-cyfluthrin) pyrethroid insecticides in human peripheral blood lymphocytes

Abstract

In the present study, human peripheral blood lymphocytes were exposed in vitro to 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 μg/mL Furia^®180 SC (zeta-cypermethrin) and 0, 6.3, 12.5, 18.8, 25, and 31.3 μg/mL Bulldock^®125 SC (β-cyfluthrin). Exposure to 32 µg/mL bleomycin for 24 h served as a positive control. The cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of each insecticide were analyzed using alkaline comet and trypan blue dye exclusion assays. DNA damage was evaluated through three genotoxicity parameters: tail length (TL), tail moment (TM) and tail intensity (TI). Furia^®180 SC and Bulldock^®125 SC pyrethroid insecticides and bleomycin significantly increased DNA damage in a concentration-dependent manner. Bulldock^®125 SC induced more DNA damage than Furia. Lymphocyte viability did not change after exposure to different concentrations of the two pyrethroid insecticides and bleomycin. Moreover, genotoxic results demonstrated that Furia^®180 SC and Bulldock^®125 SC insecticides caused in vitro DNA damage in human peripheral lymphocytes.

Keywords:

• Genotoxicity
• cytotoxicity
• human peripheral blood lymphocytes
• alkaline comet assay
• zeta-cypermethrin and β-cyfluthrin pyrethroid insecticides

Acknowledgements

The authors thank M. en C. Ana Luisa Alarcón Jiménez from the Laboratorio de Contaminación Ambiental for technical assistance during the development of this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported through the Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, Dirección General de Apoyo al Personal Académico [DGAPAUNAM-IN205613] of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).