Genotoxic analysis of nickel-iron oxide in Drosophila

It is known that nickel-iron oxide nanocomposite (NiFe₂O₄NP) is used in many important areas such as modern industry, biomedical applications, magnetic resonance imaging, construction of sensors, targeted drug treatment, and photoelectric devices in our life. In this study, we have carried out a genotoxic evaluation of NiFe₂O₄NP (30 nm) in Drosophila melanogaster by using the wing somatic mutation and recombination assay. For this purpose, third instar larvae carrying the recessive genes (flr) and multiple wing hairs (mwh) in their third chromosomes were used. The larvae were fed at concentrations ranging from 25 µg/mL to 200 µg/mL. The genotoxic effects of NiFe₂O₄NPs were evaluated according to mutant trichomes resulting from genetic changes (mitotic recombination, deletion, point mutation, nondisjunction) on development of the wing imaginal discs. Mutant clone evaluations were performed based on small single spots, large single spots, and twin spots classifications. The results showed that significant increases were observed in the frequency of all spots, indicating that the highest concentration of nanoparticles was able to induce genotoxic activity in the wing spot assay of D. melanogaster.