In vitro evaluation of zearalenone toxicity by comet assay

The aim of this study was to reveal the potentially genotoxic effect of zearalenone on bovine lymphocytes by comet assay in vitro. The bovine lymphocytes were exposed to various zearalenone concetrations (50; 10; 2; 0.4 and 0.08 ppm). The viability and DNA damage of lymphocytes was monitored after 2 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. After 2 hours of zearalenone exposure, statistically significant DNA damage occurred at all tested concentrations of 0.08 ppm (12.2±1.25; p<0.05), 0.4 ppm (12.7±0.88; p<0.01), 2 ppm (12.0±0.51; p<0.01), 10 ppm (11.2±0.47; p<0.01) and at 50 ppm (14.2±0 61; p<0.001). Significantly greater DNA damage was also found after 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. The obtained results showed that zearalenone may induce DNA damage of the bovine lymphocytes.