Role of ascorbic acid on mercuric chloride-induced genotoxicity in human blood cultures

Efforts are made to find therapeutic agents capable of minimizing genotoxicity of various natural and man-made compounds. The genotoxicity induced by mercury compounds remains controversial. Therefore we have investigated the genotoxic effect of mercuric chloride (MC; HgCl 2) at three concentrations...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Toxicology in vitro 2001-12, Vol.15 (6), p.649-654
Main Authors: Rao, M.V, Chinoy, N.J, Suthar, M.B, Rajvanshi, M.I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Antimutagenic Agents - pharmacology
Ascorbic acid
Ascorbic Acid - pharmacology
Biological and medical sciences
Cell Cycle - drug effects
Cell Division - drug effects
Cells, Cultured
Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases
Chemical mutagenesis
Chromosome Aberrations - chemically induced
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Genotoxicity
Human blood cultures
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mercuric chloride
Mercuric Chloride - toxicity
Metals and various inorganic compounds
Monocytes - drug effects
Mutagenicity Tests
Mutagens - toxicity
Sister Chromatid Exchange - drug effects
Toxicology
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Summary:Efforts are made to find therapeutic agents capable of minimizing genotoxicity of various natural and man-made compounds. The genotoxicity induced by mercury compounds remains controversial. Therefore we have investigated the genotoxic effect of mercuric chloride (MC; HgCl 2) at three concentrations (1.052, 5.262 and 10.524 μ m) and role of l-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) at a concentration of 9.734 μ m on MC-treated short-term human leucocyte cultures. We assessed the proliferative rate index (PRI), sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and chromosomal aberrations (CAS) in control and MC-treated cultures with and without vitamin C supplementation. The results showed that MC has no effect on cell-cycle kinetics, but the frequency of SCE/cell was significantly higher in a dose-dependent manner than control values. HgCl 2 also significantly induced C-anaphases (abnormal mitosis) in blood cultures. These effects were prevented by the addition of vitamin C to MC-treated cultures. The data indicate the mutagenic activity of MC and the protective role of vitamin C on mercury-induced genotoxicity in human blood cultures is probably due to its strong antioxidant and nucleophilic nature.
ISSN:0887-2333
1879-3177
DOI:10.1016/S0887-2333(01)00081-9