Toxicologic evaluation of imazalil with particular reference to genotoxic and teratogenic potentials.

Imazalil (IMA) is a fungicide that is used extensively in fruit plantations and post-harvest treatments. IMA is suspected to produce craniofacial malformations in vertebrates and scarce data are available about its genotoxicity. Therefore, toxicity tests on embryogenesis of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and genotoxicity biomonitoring assays on human lymphocytes were performed to assess the effects of IMA. For this aim, zebrafish embryos were continually exposed, from 0.5 to 144 h post-fertilization, to a range of concentrations (5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 µM). IMA (0 to 672 µM) were also applied to the whole-blood cultures from two persons. We used chromosomal aberrations (CA) and micronucleus (MN) tests to examine DNA damage by IMA in human peripheral lymphocytes. The fungicide significantly altered zebrafish development even at low concentrations and its effects were dose-dependent. Results of the experiment indicated that IMA concentrations of 10 µM and above negatively affected embryo survival and hatching success. Morphological analysis uncovered a large suite of abnormalities such as less melanin pigmentation, wavy notochord, crooked trunk, tail defect and cardiac edema. The cytogenetic results clearly showed that IMA caused increases of the frequencies of the structural chromosomal aberrations and the rates of MN as compared to controls in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, the present findings are of importance in the assessment of the potential risk of fungicides as IMA on aquatic ecosystems and humans.