Genotoxicidade do antiparasitário dipropionato de imidocarb (imizol®) em células de Aspergillus nidulans

Abstract

Imidocarb dipropionate (IMD) is a hemotherapeutic agent prescribed for the treatment and control of babesiosis and it has been described as a nucleic acid synthesis inhibitor. Although it is an effective babesicide, previous studies have reported that IMD residues are retained in high and persistent amount in animal edible tissues of cattle, swine and sheep. Since the carcinogenic potential of a chemical compound may be assessed through its effect on the homologous recombination, this study aims to investigate whether the IMD is recombinogenic in Aspergillus nidulans diploid cells and capable of inducing the homozygosis of genes previously present in heterozygous condition. In order to achieve our goal, the homozygotization assay and the heterozygous diploid strain of Aspergillus nidulans were employed. The recombinogenic action of IMD in non-toxic concentrations (2.5 μM to 10.0 μM) was demonstrated by Homozygotization Indices higher than 2.0 for diploids' markers obtained with IMD, and by the production of a diploid homozygous for genetic markers from chromosomes I and II as well. The IMD recombinogenic potential may be associated to the recombinational repair of lesions in DNA inducedby this babesicide. DNA replication blockers, such as IMD, induce DNA strand breaks and have been classified as promoters in the carcinogenesis process. Since the mitotic homologous recombination may trigger neoplasms, this study highlights the need for further studies to investigate the genotoxic potential of IMD in mammalian cells, specially due to the long elimination time of IMD from milk and animal tissues.