ABSTRACT
Diazinon (DZN) is an organophosphate pesticide used widely in agriculture. Unexpectedly, the pure pesticidecompounds are less toxic than its commercial formulations. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare betweenthe commercial DZN formulation Basudin 60EM® and active ingredients forms of DZN to find the nontoxicform. Several groups of male mice were treated with different doses (1/40, 1/20, and 1/10 of LD50) of commercialformulation and active ingredients of DZN pesticide for 4 weeks. A quantitative Real-Time PCR (RT-PCR) wasconducted to investigate the expression of TNF-α, p53, and Caspase-3 genes. Furthermore, the effect of bothforms of DZN on intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) generation and DNA damage was studied. Theresults showed that the TNF-α, p53, and Caspase-3 expression levels were increased in commercial formulationtreated mice than those treated with active ingredient form. Moreover, the commercial formulation form was ableto increase ROS generation and induce DNA damage much more than the active ingredient-treated mice. Theresults concluded that not only the organophosphates but also the other byproducts affect the cellular responses tocytokine and apoptotic elements through alteration in the mRNA expression by increasing the levels of free radicalgeneration