Genetic and biochemical studies on a commercial preparation of atrazine

Abstract

A commercial preparation of atrazine was tested in diploid strain (D 7 ) of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in suspension test using cells from logarithmic growth phase (with a high level of cytochrome P-450) and stationary growth phase. This compound induced a marked increase of both gene conversion and point mutation in logarithmic phase cells, while in stationary phase cells only an increase of gene conversion was observed. Results obtained employing TA98 and TA100 strains of Salmonella typhimurium (Ames test) confirm that atrazine has no mutagenic effect.The in vivo effects on cytochrome P-450 content (Cyt.P-450), 7-ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase (ECD), aminopyrine-N-demethylase (APD), p-nitroanisole-O-demethylase (p-NAD) activities were examined in hepatic microsomes from Naphenobarbital and β-naphthoflavone induced pigs 24 h after acute intoxication with atrazine. Our results indicated a marked decrease of cytochrome P-450 level and of microsomal protein content, suggesting a hepatotoxic effect of atrazine in vivo.