BACKGROUND Ionizing radiation is a well-known carcinogen. Chromosome aberrations, and in particular micronuclei represent an early biological predictor of cancer risk. There are well-documented associations of micronuclei with ionizing radiation dose in some radiation-exposed groups, although not all. That associations are not seen in all radiation-exposed groups may be because cells with micro...

Micronuclei frequency, a marker of genotoxicity, was studied within a trial of alpha-tocopherol for chemoprevention of oral leukoplakia. Oral swabs were obtained from two sites, the leukoplakia lesion and normal-appearing mucosa, at baseline and following 24 weeks of therapy with 400 international units of alpha-tocopherol twice daily. These specimens were analyzed for micronuclei frequency. Th...

Biomarkers for increased cytogenetic damage in smokers include sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in peripheral lymphocytes and micronuclei in sputum cells. These markers may reflect increased cancer risk. Increased cancer risk has also been associated with lower blood levels of the antioxidants beta-carotene and vitamin C and with genetic deficiency of the detoxification enzyme glutathione S-tra...

The frequency of micronuclei in bone marrow cells of mice treated or not with Liv. 52 and then exposed to 4.5 Gy of gamma-radiation was evaluated from 6 h to 14 days post irradiation. The frequency of micronuclei increased from 6 h to 24 h post irradiated in both irradiated groups and declined thereafter, the frequency of micronuclei remaining significantly lower in the Liv. 52-treated group. T...

methotrexate is an antineopalstic agent widely used in low dose to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis. it is known to induce micronuclei at multiple doses in rats. the present study investigates the effect of vitamin a on methotrexate-induced micronuclei in rat bone marrow erythrocytes. male wistar rats were (n=5) injected with 0, 8, 16 and20mg/kg methotrexate (single i.p dose). a group o...

Aneugenic and clastogenic agents are good inducers of both micronuclei and apoptosis. In its turn, apoptosis may modify the threshold values for the induction of micronuclei. This is of major concern for accurate assessment of hazard related to exposure to mutagens. In the present work we studied the influence of caspases, the key regulators of the apoptotic process, on the induction of micronu...

Methotrexate is an antineopalstic agent widely used in low dose to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It is known to induce micronuclei at multiple doses in rats. The present study investigates the effect of vitamin A on methotrexate-induced micronuclei in rat bone marrow erythrocytes. Male wistar rats were (n=5) injected with 0, 8, 16 and20mg/kg methotrexate (single i.p dose). A group o...

Onion (Allium cepa) and bean (Vicia faba) root tip cells containing many micronuclei, derived from x-ray-induced chromosome fragments, were exposed to H(3)-thymidine and H(3)-cytidine to determine the ability of such fragments to undergo DNA and RNA synthesis. Only a few micronuclei in onion and many in bean roots synthesize nucleic acid simultaneously with their main nuclei. A few micronuclei ...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the rate of sister chromatid exchange (SCE), the occurrence of micronuclei, and the lymphocyte proliferation rate index (PRI) in patients with breast cancer, their first-degree relatives, and healthy volunteers. METHODS We analyzed the frequency of SCE and micronuclei, and the PRI in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of 30 women with br...