Assessing sister chromatid exchanges in human peripheral lymphocytes exposed to tetrachlorvinphos during G0 phase

Abstract

While pesticides undeniably contribute to enhancing agricultural productivity, the escalating trend in their usage has given rise to a myriad of environmental and public health challenges over time. Tetrachlorvinphos, an organophosphate pesticide deemed potentially carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, is commonly employed to combat flies, mites, and larvae in animals, safeguarding public health in open spaces, and managing pest issues in domestic animals. We aimed to investigate the genotoxic and cytostatic effects of tetrachlorvinphos on human lymphocytes in the G 0 phase of the cell cycle using the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) assay. We found that tetrachlorvinphos increased SCE values at 3 concentrations (5, 25, 50 µM). On the other hand, the increase in SCE values was found to be statistically significant only at the highest concentration (50 µM, p<0.05). We also found that the SCE value showed a linear dose-dependent increase (p=0.005). We concluded that exposure to tetrachlorvinphos had genotoxic potential on human lymphocytes in the G 0 phase of the cell cycle. Additionally, exposure of cells in the G 0 phase of cell cycle to tetrachlorvinphos was found to have no discernible impact on cell cycle kinetics.

Keywords

• pesticides
• organophosphates
• genotoxic effects
• cytostatic effects
• sister chromatid exchange assay
• g 0 phase