In vivo genotoxic effect of arsenic trioxide in mice using comet assay

Although arsenic has been the subject of toxicological research, acute in vivo genotoxic studies using relevant animal models and uniform methodology are lacking. Hence, the present study aims to study DNA damage caused by arsenic trioxide in mice in in vivo using alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay. Mice were administered orally 0, 0.13, 0.27, 0.54, 1.08, 2.15, 4.3 and 6.45 mg/kg body weight of arsenic trioxide dissolved in distilled water. The samples of whole blood were collected at 24, 48, 72 h, first and second week post-treatment and the assay was carried out to determine DNA damage as represented by comet tail-length. All the doses induced significant increase in comet tail-length at 24 h post-treatment ( P