Thirty day genotoxicity study of an organophosphate insecticide, monocrotophos, in a chick in vivo test system.

The genotoxicity of an organophosphate insecticide, monocrotophos, was evaluated upon chronic exposure in a chick in vivo test system employing micronucleus bioassay. In this study the animals were treated once daily for 30 days. The induced frequency of micronuclei in the erythrocytes of both bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) were significantly higher than the respective control values. Weekly recording of the body weight of treated and control groups did not reveal any significant effect of the chemical on the general growth rate. The present results revealed the genotoxic potential of monocrotophos and also substantiate our earlier suggestion regarding the suitability of the chick in vivo test system to screen environmental abuses for mutagenicity.