Tebuconazole belongs
to the group of triazole fungicides. As a systemic foliar fungicide it was
widely used in agriculture for crops protection, such as barley, wheat, peanuts
and orchard fruits. Associations between exposure to pesticides and health
outcomes in humans, including different kinds of cancer were reported by
several authors. Effects in immune, hematological, nervous, endocrine and
reproductive systems have also been described. Data about genotoxic effects of
pesticides are rarely reported. We are interested in the detection of
structural and numerical aberrations in bovine peripheral lymphocytes
using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in vitro. Three whole chromosome painting probes (wcps), BTA1 for the bovine chromosome 1
(red colour), BTA 5 for chromosome 5 (green colour) and BTA 7 for chromosome 7
(red colour), as well, were used in experiments. Aneuploidy and unstable
structural aberrations were detected more precisely than those seen in
conventional chromosome aberrations assays, but only on the marked chromosomes
could be analysed.