Objectives: The aim of this investigation was to determine the capacity of serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant drug fluoxetine (FLX) to induce genotoxic damage in somatic and germ cells.
Methods: For this study, sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE's) in bone marrow cells and sperm abnormalities assays in male mice were used. The animals were organized in four groups constituted by five mice. They were orally administered with the test substance as follows: a negative control group; three groups treated with FLX (2.6, 7.8 and 13.0 mg/kg b.wt.) for 5 consecutive days. Animals were sacrificed 24h after the last treatment for analysis SCE's and left for 35 days from the first treatment for analysis sperm-shape abnormalities.
Results: The results showed that the drug was SCE and sperm abnormalities inducer. The response of this compound was dose-dependent, and showed that the highest tested dose increased about two times SCE and four times the sperm abnormalities control level. The cellular proliferation kinetics was not affected by the chemical, and the mitotic indexes were slightly diminished with the highest dose. The percentage of sperm count and sperm motility decreased (p < 0.01) with increased the dose of treatment.
Conclusions: These results indicate an in vivo genotoxic potential for the antidepressant drug FLX.