Journal of Environmental Protection, 2015, 6, 1360-1367 Published Online December 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jep http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jep.2015.612118 How to cite this paper: Ansoar-Rodríguez, Y., Christofoletti, C.A., Marcato, A.C., Correia, J.E., Bueno, O.C., Malaspina, O. and Fontanetti, C.S. (2015) Genotoxic Potential of the Insecticide Imidacloprid in a Non-Target Organism (Oreochromis nilo- ticus-Pisces). Journal of Environmental Protection, 6, 1360-1367. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jep.2015.612118 Genotoxic Potential of the Insecticide Imidacloprid in a Non-Target Organism (Oreochromis niloticus-Pisces) * Yadira Ansoar-Rodríguez 1,2# , Cintya A. Christofoletti 3 , Ana Claudia Marcato 1 , Jorge Evangelista Correia 1 , Odair Correa Bueno 4 , Osmar Malaspina 4 , Carmem S. Fontanetti 1 1 UNESP—São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil 2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Pharmacy and Food Institute, University of Havana, Havana, Cuba 3 UNIARARAS—Hermínio Ometto Foundation, Araras, Brazil 4 UNESP/CEIS—Center of Study of Social Insects, Rio Claro, Brazil Received 12 November 2015; accepted 5 December 2015; published 9 December 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The indiscriminate use of pesticides has become a serious environmental concern. Insecticide im- idacloprid (IMI) is the second most widely used pesticides worldwide. In 2010, 1.934 tons of IMI were sold in Brazil, mostly to be used in sugarcane crops. Several studies have detected its pres- ence in the aquatic environment constituting a risk to non-target organisms. The aquatic animals are organisms used for environmental biomonitoring worldwide. They are considered excellent genetic models to detect environmental mutagens. Among animal species, the fish Oreochromis niloticus, commonly known as Nile tilapia, has been used to evaluate DNA damage. The present study therefore evaluated the effect of IMI on the genetic material of Oreochromis niloticus (Pisces) erythrocytes exposed to different concentration (250; 125 and 62.5 µg/L) of IMI used in growing sugarcane. The effect of the IMI was measured using the comet assay and the micronucleus (MN) test, assays that detected genotoxic damage. The results in the comet assay demonstrated that the concentrations tested induced primary damage to DNA. They also proved the occurrence of MN and nuclear abnormalities at the higher concentration used in the micronuclei and other nuclear abnormalities test. The insecticide IMI induced primary DNA damage at all concentrations and * Genotoxic potential of the insecticide imidacloprid. # Corresponding author.