Female mice were exposed maternally to imazalil through diet to provide levels of 0 (control), 0.0006, 0.0018, and 0.0054% during gestation and lactation periods, and selected reproductive and neurobehavioral parameters were measured in F₁ generation. There was no adverse effect of imazalil on litter size, litter weight, or sex ratio at birth. With respect to behavioral developmental parameters, surface righting on postnatal day 4 of male offspring was delayed significantly in a dose-related manner (p < 0.05). Regarding exploratory behavior in the F₁ generation, movement time was significantly long (p = 0.0206) in the low-dose group of males at 8 weeks of age. Spontaneous behavior examination in males indicated that movement time increased but in females decreased in the low-dose groups in the F₁ generation. The dose levels of imazalil in the present study produced some adverse effects in neurobehavioral parameters in mice.
Keywords: behavioral development; enilconazole; fungicide; imazalil; maternal exposure; mice; movement activity; reproductive toxicity; spontaneous behavior.
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