Sub-acute oral toxicity of Imidacloprid and Fipronil pesticide mixture in male albino rats; biochemical and reproductive toxicity evaluation

Due to recent registration of the Imidacloprid and FIpronil pesticides formula as a termiticide/insecticide,28 days daily oral toxicity study of Imidacloprid and Fipronil pesticide mixture was conducted in three groups of male rats with doses of 1/200LD_50 (0.547mg/bw/day), 1/150LD_50 (0.409mg/bw/day), 1/100LD_50 (0.820 mg/bw/day) plus control group. No mortality occurred during treatments period while food intake was reduced significantly when compared to the control group. White blood cells (WBC),red blood cells (RBC), haemoglobin (Hb) and hematocritlevels were significantly decreased in a dose dependent manner while there were significant dose increases in blood platelet values. The administration of mixture induced impairment of biochemical parameters like serum alanine aminotransaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) ,alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Ɣ-Glutamyltransferase (GGT), urea, uric acid, Albumin, Globulin and total protein levels in all treated groups. Fipronil-Imidacloprid mixture potentiate effects on antioxidant system and oxidative stress biomarkers as observed by the significant decrease in testis DNA, RNA concentrations and reduced GSH accompanied by the significant increase in testicular Malondialdehyde (MDA) for the treated mixture groups thus side effects of pesticide mixture may need more investigations before applying.