a Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University School of Sciences, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad 380009, India
b Biology Department, K.K.Shah Jarodwala Maninagar Science College, Maninagar, Ahmedabad 380008, India
Abstract:
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; HgCl2) at three concentrations (1.052, 5.262 and 10.524 μ) and role of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) at a concentration of 9.734 μ 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. HgCl2 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.