Evaluation of insecticidal and genotoxic effects of imidacloprid and acetochlor in Drosophila melanogaster

Two pesticides, the insecticide imidacloprid and the herbicide acetochlor, were evaluated for their insecticidal and genotoxic effects in Drosophila melanogaster. Their insecticidal effects were assessed by calculating LC50 values after acute or chronic exposure of larvae and adults to different concentrations of the test compounds. After acute exposure, the LC50 of imidacloprid was 7.59 x 10(-5) M for larvae and 1.43 x 10(-4) M for adults, and after chronic exposure, it was 2.67 x 10(-5) M and 6.09 x 10(-5) M for larvae and adults, respectively. On the contrary, the herbicide acetochlor showed no acute or chronic insecticidal effect against either larvae or adults, even at very high concentrations (8 x 10(-3) M). For the evaluation of genotoxic properties of the two pesticides, the Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test in D. melanogaster was used. Our results suggest that neither imidacloprid nor acetochlor exhibits mutagenic or recombinogenic activity at applicable concentrations.