Cytogenetic and dominant lethal studies on captan.

Possible mutagenic activity of captan was investigated by in vitro and in vivo cytogenetic studies and by the dominant lethal study in mice. In vitro cytogenetic study with cultured human diploid cells revealed a significant increase in the frequency of cells showing stickiness and a severe mitotic inhibition at concentrations of 3.0 and 4.0 microgram of captan per ml. although no chromosomal aberrations were observed. In in vivo cytogenetic study, no chromosomal aberrations were induced in the bone marrow cells of rats treated orally with captan at a single dose of 500, 1000 or 2000 mg/kg or at five consecutive doses of 200, 400 or 800 mg/kg/day. Dominant lethal study also failed to show any mutation induction after treatment of male mice with daily oral dose of 200 or 600 mg of captan per kg bw for five days.