Chromosome aberration and irregular cell cycle in Allium cepa root cells caused by different concentrations of Alprazolam

Introduction: Allium cepa is a biological material of great importance for mutagenicity tests, due to the simplicity of its use in testing, the fast growth of its roots, and the response of genetic material to the presence of substances with cytotoxic and genotoxic potential. Method: The Allium test model by using the onion seed (Alium cepa L.) without the use of pesticides or any other chemicals is used in this research. Progressive changes in Allium cepa’s chromosomes caused by treating Allium cepa’s roots in selected drug concentration of 1, 10, 50 and 100 μg/ml of Alprazolam were followed. For statistical analysis chi-square test with the level of significance set at P≤0.05 is used. Results: Changes in the structure and number of chromosomes in mitosis were found. Conclusion: Comparing the results obtained for genotoxicity of Alprazolam with those obtained in the experiments that have been performed on other preparations of this group of drugs it can be stated that Alprazolam has similar effects on the cell cycle. Because of potential risk of using Alprazolam another experiment with higher concentration of Alprazolam would give more sufficient information.