Repeated dose liver micronucleus assay using adult mice with multiple genotoxicity assays concurrently performed as a combination test.

Recently, the liver micronucleus (MN) assay using young adult rats with repeated administrations has been investigated by employing a new method without partial hepatectomy or in situcollagenase perfusion as the repeated dose liver MN (RDLMN) assay by Narumi et al. (2012). In our study, in order to investigate the possibility of the RDLMN assay using young adult mice instead of rats and the feasibility of employing some genotoxicity assays along with the RDLMN assay as a combination test, two genotoxic carcinogens (N,N-diethylnitrosoamine (DEN) and cisplatin (CIS)) and a nongenotoxic carcinogen (phenobarbital sodium (PHE)) were administered to mice for 15 or 29 days. Then, the liver MN assay, peripheral blood (PB) MN assay and comet assay using the liver and kidney were concurrently performed as a combination test. DEN showed positive responses to all endpoints except MN induction in PB after 15 days of repeat administration. A cross-linking agent, CIS, showed MN induction in liver after 29 days of repeat administration, and in PB after 15 and 29 days of repeat administration, although the comet assay yielded negative responses for both organs at both sampling times. PHE yielded negative responses for all endpoints. In conclusion, it is suggested that the RDLMN assay using mice is a feasible method to be integrated into the general repeated toxicity test along with the combination assays, i.e., comet assay or PB MN assay, which would help in risk assessment for carcinogenicity by comparing the results of combination assays with each other.