DNA damage of germ cell of rat induced by nitrotoluene chemicals

2,4-dinitrotoluene(2,4-DNT), 2,6-dinitrotoluene(2,6-DNT) and 4-nitrotoluene(4-NT) are typical pollutants in the Songhua River of Northeast China. Sertoli/germ cell cocultures and single cell gel electrophoresis(SCGE) are applied to investigate whether they have genotoxicity on DNA damage of germ cell of Kunming male rat. The results showed that all three nitrotoluene compounds tested could induce DNA single-strand breaks of the germ cell. A significant relationship is found between logarithm dose and the degree of DNA damage, which implies that 2,4-DNT, 2,6-DNT and 4-NT have genotoxicity and can induce the germ cell DNA strand to break in vitro.