Abstract
BackgroundTobacco smoke causes serious health ill effects to human population. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are more common in smoking subjects. AimThe present study is focused about the genetical changes in smoking subjects based on their age and pack years. Subjects and methodsBased on a survey report, 160 subjects are selected from Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu, India. Venous blood and buccal smear samples are collected from each subject. ResultsIncreased CA is observed in heavy smokers compared to light and non smokers which is 8.90±2.58, 4.58±2.36 and 4.31±1.17, respectively. Both medium and light smokers showed significantly increased CA frequencies than control. Comet assay showed increased percentage of abnormalities in smokers (light, medium and heavy) than non-smokers. ConclusionThe frequencies of MN in buccal epithelial and blood lymphocytes are high in smokers; particularly heavy smoker group showed significantly increased results. Among them, the lymphocytic cells showed high MN frequency.
Highlights
Smoking is a major cause for cancer, cardiovascular diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases ([1,2])
The frequencies of MN in buccal epithelial and blood lymphocytes are high in smokers; heavy smoker group showed significantly increased results
Formation of double strand breaks in unreplicated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in G0 and G1 phases of the cell cycle leads to formation of chromosome-type aberrations (CSAs), whereas double-strand breaks generated in duplicated DNA in the S and G2 phases give rise to chromatid-type aberrations (CTAs) [30]
Summary
Smoking is a major cause for cancer, cardiovascular diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases ([1,2]). Cigarette smoke constitutes approximately 5311 chemical compounds [3] including over 50 known carcinogens such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), N-nitrosamines, aromatic amines, and trace metals [4], which act as important mutagenic factors which cause damages to human genetic material [5]. Tobacco smoke induces an array of genetic aberrations including gene mutations, chromosome aberrations (CAs), sister chromatid exchanges and DNA strand breaks [6]. Chromosome aberrations and micronuclei (MN) frequency studies are considered as cytogenetic endpoints and act as sensitive parameters for assessing genotoxic effects of chemical or physical mutagens [7]. CA studies act as a biomarker of health outcome which measures the genetic damage due to exposure of various mutagens and probably the only one which has been internationally standardized and validated ([11,13]). Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are more common in smoking subjects
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