Metronidazole Induced DNA Damage in Somatic Cells of Drosophila

PALERMO, AM; MUDRY, MD

Current Drug Safety

Bentham Science Publishers

Año: 2013 vol. 8 p. 195 - 198

1574 8863

The standard version of the wing somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster was employed in order to evaluate the genotoxic potential of metronidazole (MTZ) as a function of exposure concentration. MTZ was administered by chronic feeding of 3-day-old larvae with the parenteral solution at O, 500, 1000 and 2000 ug/ml until pupation. The marker-heterozygous progeny (mwh+/+flr3) with phenotypically wild-type wings was analyzed. Non significant differences were found between control and each MTZ concentration tested for single small spots (SSS) frequencies. Large single spots (LSS) and twin spots (TS) were significantly increased with the higher dose. MTZ treatments with 1000 and 2000 ug/ml also significantly increased the frequency of Total spots. These findings suggest that MTZ is genotoxic in the present experimental conditions and induces recombinagenesis andlor gene conversion, two major mechanisms that cause loss of heterocigosity and could play an important role in tumorigenesis and carcinogenesis processes.