A 90 days oral toxicity of imidacloprid in female rats: Morphological, biochemical and histopathological evaluations

A 90 days oral toxicity study of imidacloprid was conducted in female rats with doses of 0, 5, 10, 20 mg/kg/day. Decrease in the body weight gain was observed at 20 mg/kg/day and at necropsy the relative body weights of liver, kidney and adrenal was also significantly increased at this dose level. No mortality occurred during treatment period while food intake was reduced at high dose level. In clinical chemistry parameters high dose of imidacloprid has caused significant elevation of serum GOT, GPT, glucose and BUN and decreased the activity of AChE in serum and brain. The spontaneous locomotor activity was also decreased at highest dose exposure where as there were no significant changes in hematological and urine parameters. The brain, liver and kidney of rats exposed with high dose of imidacloprid had showed mild pathological changes. Based on the morphological, biochemical, hematological and neuropathological studies it is evident that imidacloprid has not produced any significant effects at 5 and 10 mg/kg/day doses but induced toxicological effects at 20 mg/kg/day to female rats. Hence, 10 mg/kg/day dose may be considered as no observed effect level (NOEL) for female rats.