Investigation of the potential toxic effects of prometryne herbicide on Allium cepa root tip cells with mitotic activity, chromosome aberration, micronucleus frequency, nuclear DNA amount and comet assay

Figures & data

Table 1. Effects of concentrations of prometryne and control on mitotic cell division of A. cepa.

Time	Treatments (g l^−1)	Number of	MI ± SD	Cell division phases (%)
				Prophase		Metaphase		Ana-telophase
(h)		examined cells		Total	Abnormal	Total	Abnormal	Total	Abnormal
12	C	5000	23.13 ± 0.25	34.22	—	35.76	—	30.02	—
	2	5000	23.08 ± 0.13	36.13*	—	35.72	—	28.15*	—
	3	5000	21.31 ± 0.27*	35.94*	3.26*	31.08*	2.19*	32.98*	3.37*
	4	5000	16.19 ± 0.34*	34.34	4.17*	30.44*	3.91*	35.22*	5.44*
	6	5000	14.26 ± 0.44*	37.23*	5.83*	29.37*	4.62*	33.40*	8.68*
24	C	5000	24.16 ± 0.19	29.56	—	33.32	—	37.12	—
	2	5000	23.98 ± 0.08	30.13	—	35.93*	—	33.94*	—
	3	5000	20.76 ± 0.12*	29.65	3.51*	33.28	3.52*	37.07	5.58*
	4	5000	16.44 ± 0.22*	32.23*	4.88*	30.55*	4.06*	37.22	6.71*
	6	5000	13.98 ± 0.16*	37.49*	6.97*	33.18	6.37*	29.33*	9.06*
36	C	5000	25.38 ± 0.41	28.97	—	36.76	0.18	34.27	—
	2	5000	24.98 ± 0.26	28.92	0.22*	35.09*	0.18	35.99*	—
	3	5000	13.14 ± 0.44*	33.21*	4.68*	30.32*	4.47*	36.47*	5.83*
	4	5000	12.08 ± 0.24*	34.82*	7.88*	31.19*	6.57*	33.99	8.47*
	6	5000	13.72 ± 0.18*	37.01*	11.34*	30.96*	8.11*	32.03*	10.92*

*Different from the control p < 0.05; MI: mitotic index; SD: standard deviation; C: control.

Table 2. Type and frequency of chromosomal aberrations in the root tips of A. cepa exposed to concentrations of prometryne and control.

Time(h)	Treatments (g l^−1)	Percentage of abnormalities ± SD					Total Abnormality (%)
		Disturbed prophase	Chromatid bridge	Stickiness	C-mitosis	Laggards
12	C	—	—	—	—	—	—
	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
	3	3.11 ± 0.24*	1.71 ± 0.15*	0.65 ± 0.33*	2.87 ± 0.49*	0.48 ± 0.08*	8.82*
	4	3.40 ± 0.11*	3.55 ± 0.63*	2.87 ± 0.22*	2.94 ± 0.37*	0.76 ± 0.38*	13.52*
	6	3.28 ± 0.33*	4.87 ± 0.27*	5.61 ± 0.53*	2.85 ± 0.14*	2.52 ± 0.33*	19.13*
24	C	—	—	—	—	—	—
	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
	3	3.89 ± 0.18*	1.37 ± 0.11*	3.72 ± 0.41	1.65 ± 0.33*	2.05 ± 0.11*	12.68*
	4	2.66 ± 0.11*	3.48 ± 0.04*	3.17 ± 0.33	2.93 ± 0.22*	3.41 ± 0.28*	15.65*
	6	3.65 ± 0.37*	4.12 ± 0.22*	6.96 ± 0.11*	3.98 ± 0.44*	3.69 ± 0.33*	22.40*
36	C	—	—	0.18 ± 0.04	—	—	0.18
	2	0.22 ± 0.11*	—	0.18 ± 0.08	—	—	0.40*
	3	4.68 ± 0.33*	0.76 ± 0.33*	3.23 ± 0.08*	3.97 ± 0.11*	2.34 ± 0.22*	14.98*
	4	7.88 ± 0.22*	2.20 ± 0.46*	5.99 ± 0.11*	3.74 ± 0.37*	3.11 ± 0.44*	22.92*
	6	5.61 ± 0.22*	5.81 ± 0.33*	9.31 ± 0.44*	4.83 ± 0.08*	4.81 ± 0.11*	30.37*

* Different from the control p < 0.05.

Table 3. The effects of prometryne herbicide on the micronucleus, nuclear DNA amount and DNA damage assays.

Time	Treatments(g l^−1)	MN	DNA amount	DNA damage
(h)		(%)	(pg ± SD)	(AU ± SD)
12	C	—	98.61 ± 0.15	10.11 ± 2.16
	2	—	98.32 ± 0.22	10.93 ± 3.34
	3	0.12*	90.14 ± 0.33*	14.89 ± 1.76*
	4	0.12*	72.18 ± 1.19*	17.28 ± 2.31*
	6	0.18*	65.89 ± 0.76*	21.56 ± 3.73*
24	C	—	95.45 ± 0.41	12.58 ± 3.59
	2	0.02*	94.99 ± 0.67	13.34 ± 2.72
	3	0.16*	82.62 ± 0.13*	21.47 ± 2.91*
	4	0.18*	79.53 ± 0.19*	32.12 ± 3.87*
	6	0.22*	65.16 ± 0.22*	40.38 ± 4.14*
36	C	—	85.46 ± 0.47	14.54 ± 1.62
	2	0.04*	81.39 ± 0.11*	23.64 ± 2.91*
	3	0.22*	60.23 ± 0.32*	31.12 ± 4.13*
	4	0.28*	51.48 ± 1.17*	46.27 ± 3.62*
	6	0.44*	30.14 ± 0.89*	61.21 ± 4.78*

* Different from the control p < 0.05; AU: arbitrary units; pg: picogram.

Figure 1. Mitotic abnormalities caused by prometryne in root meristem cells of A. cepa: (a) disturbed prophase; (b) chromatid bridge; (c) stickiness; (d) c-mitosis; (e) laggards; (f) micronucleus.