Evaluation of the RBC Pig-a assay and the PIGRET assay using benzo[a]pyrene in rats

•A comparison of the RBC Pig-a assay with the PIGRET assay was performed.•The RBC Pig-a/PIGRET assays can detect the in vivo mutagenicity of benzo[a]pyrene.•In vivo mutagenicity of benzo[a]pyrene was similar to the previous results.•The sensitivity of the PIGRET assay was higher than that of the RBC Pig-a assay.

The red blood cell (RBC) Pig-a assay has the potential to detect the in vivo mutagenicity of chemicals. Recently, use of the Pig-a assay with reticulocytes (the PIGRET assay) reportedly enabled the in vivo mutagenicity of chemicals to be detected earlier than using the RBC Pig-a assay. To evaluate whether the PIGRET assay is useful and effective as a short-term test, compared with the RBC Pig-a assay, we performed both assays using benzo[a]pyrene (BP), which is a well-known mutagen. BP was used to dose 8-week-old male rats orally at 0, 75.0, 150, and 300 mg/kg administered as a single administration. Peripheral blood samples were then collected on days 0, 7, 14, and 28 after treatment and were used in both assays. In the treatment groups receiving 150 mg/kg of BP or more, both the RBC Pig-a assay and the PIGRET assay detected the in vivo mutagenicity of BP. In the 300 mg/kg treatment group, in which a significant increase in the mutant frequency (MF) was observed at all the sampling points using both the RBC Pig-a assay and the PIGRET assay, the reticulocyte (RET) Pig-a MF was higher than the RBC Pig-a MF on days 7 and 14 after treatment; nevertheless, the negative control RET Pig-a MF was comparable to the negative control RBC Pig-a MF. In addition, the RET Pig-a MF began to increase after day 7 and reached a maximum value on day 14 after treatment, whereas the RBC Pig-a MF increased continuously from day 7 until day 28 after treatment. These results indicate that the PIGRET assay has a higher sensitivity than the RBC Pig-a assay and that the PIGRET assay is useful for the earlier detection of the in vivo mutagenicity of chemicals, compared with the RBC Pig-a assay.