Investigation of in vivo comet assay in rabbit corneal epithelial cells with single ophthalmic administration of genotoxic compounds

Abstract

We conducted comet assay in the rabbit corneal epithelial cells with exposured known genotoxic compounds in order to establish an in vivo genotoxicity evaluation system for ophthalmic drugs. Ethidium bromide, paraquat, methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), acrylamide and 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4-NQO) were instilled once onto the eyes in male Japanese white rabbits. As the result, ethidium bromide, MMS and 4-NQO induced DNA fragmentation. These results suggest that this method can be used as an in vivo genotoxicity test in the ophthalmic drug development.