Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate potential genotoxic effects in blood and liver samples of male rats of pubertal age following the administration of butylparaben (BP).
Materials and Methods: A total of 48 6-week-old male rats were divided randomly into 8 equal groups. Three groups received 200, 400, or 800 mg/kg/day BP for 14 days; 3 groups received 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg/day for 28 days; and 2 control groups received corn oil or methyl methanesulfonate. Blood and liver samples were analyzed to determine any genotoxic effect using comet assay parameters of tail moment, tail length, and tail intensity.
Results: Significant differences were observed between the control and treatment groups: liver sample analysis revealed that the tail length of the 28-day dose groups was lower than that of the 14-day dose groups and some tail moment and the tail intensity values were high in the BP treatment groups. The measurements of tail length in the 200 and 400 mg/kg/day BP groups was higher than that of the control groups, while in the 800 mg/kg/day group, it was lower than that of the control group. The lymphocyte values in the 14-day high-dose groups were higher than the 28-day low-dose data.
Conclusion: The results indicated that BP had genotoxic potential in the blood and liver cells of young male rats.