Evaluation of the DNA damaging effects of amitraz on human lymphocytes in the Comet assay.
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Date
2013-03
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Abstract
Amitraz is formamidine pesticide widely used as insecticide and acaricide. In veterinary medicine, amitraz has
important uses against ticks, mites and lice on animals. Also, amitraz is used in apiculture to control Varroa
destructor. It this study, the alkaline Comet assay was used to evaluate DNA damaging effects of amitraz in human
lymphocytes. Isolated human lymphocytes were incubated with varying concentrations of amitraz (0.035, 0.35, 3.5,
35 and 350 μg/mL). The Comet assay demonstrated that all concentrations of amitraz caused statistically significant
increase in the level of DNA damage, thus indicating that amitraz possesses genotoxic potential. The concentration of
amitraz that produced the highest DNA damage (3.5 μg/mL) was chosen for further analysis with the antioxidant
catalase. The obtained results showed that co-treatment with antioxidant catalase (100 IU/mL or 500 IU/mL)
significantly reduced the level of DNA damage, indicating the possible involvement of reactive oxygen species in
DNA damaging effects of amitraz. Flow cytometric analysis revealed increase of the apoptotic index following
treatment with amitraz. However, co-treatment with catalase reduced the apoptotic index, while treatment with
catalase alone reduced the percentage of apoptotoc cells even in comparison with the negative control. Therefore,
catalase had protective effects against ROS-mediated DNA damage and apoptosis.
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Keywords
Amitraz, apoptosis, catalase, Comet assay, DNA damage
Citation
Radakovic Milena, Stevanovic Jevrosima, Djelic Ninolav, Lakic Nada, Knezevic-Vukcevic Jelena, Vukovic-Gacic Branka, Stanimirovic Zoran. Evaluation of the DNA damaging effects of amitraz on human lymphocytes in the Comet assay. Journal of Biosciences. 2013 Mar; 38(1): 53-62.