Elevated frequencies of micronuclei and other nuclear anomalies in alcoholic subjects

The present study was aimed to investigate the frequency of micronuclei and other nuclear anomalies in alcoholic subjects. The present study included 100 subjects out of which 54 were alcoholics (23 smokers and 31 non smokers) and 46 subjects (non smokers) were healthy controls.The average age of alcoholics was of 44.185±4.434 years, very close to that of control individuals which was 41.281±6.424 years. Nuclear anomalies were assessed using micronuclei assay in exfoliated buccal epithelial cells. The result of micronucleus assay showed an increase in the frequency of micronuclei (MN). In alcoholics the frequency of MN was found to be higher (3.707±0.379) as compared to healthy controls (0.869±0141) the difference was significant at (p<0.001). Similarly the frequency of MN in alcoholic smokers subjects was found to be increased 4.608±0.585 as compared to healthy controls (0.869±0141).The significant difference was observed at p<0.001, like MN other nuclear anomalies binucleate (BN), karyolysis (KL) and karyorrhexis (KH) also showed a significant difference (p>0.001).