LACK OF GENOTOXICITY OF THE HERBICIDE ATRAZINE IN CULTURED HUMAN-LYMPHOCYTES

The widely used herbicide atrazine was evaluated for genotoxicity in c ultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE), chromosome aberrations (CA) and micronuclei (MN) were scored a s genetic endpoints. To detect eventual metabolic modification in the genotoxicity of this herbicide, the cultures for SCE and MN demonstrat ion were also treated with S9 microsomal fraction. From our results we can conclude that atrazine was able to exert a weak cytotoxic effect. However, the overall evaluation of the genotoxicity data indicate tha t this herbicide is not effective in the three assays conducted, irres pective of the presence of metabolic activation, which would mean a ge neral lack of effectiveness of atrazine to induce clastogenic and aneu genic damage in cultured human lymphocytes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.