Effects of vanillin on sister-chromatid exchanges and chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes

Abstract

Vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, CAS No. 121-33-5) is a very common flavor compound found in, for example, food, beverages, and cigarette smoke. It shows quite low toxicity on acute exposures with an LDso oral rate of 1580 mg/kg (Jenner et al., 1964). In vitro tests for mutagenicity in bacteria (Florin et al., 1980) and induction of chromosome aberration in Chinese hamster ceils (Kasamaki et al., 1982) show negative results. However, vanillin is known to be converted to catechol by the intestinal microflora in rat and catechol is found in the urine after vanillin exposure (Strand and Scheline, 1975). This may well indicate a genetic hazard, as catechol is known to be cocarcinogenic (Hecht et al., 1981). These facts and our recent finding that vanillin is a potent inducer of sister-chromatid exchanges (Jansson et al., t986) invited further studies of the genotoxic effects of vanillin. In this study we repeat and confirm the tests of vanillin on sisterchromatid exchanges (SCE) and also present new data suggesting probably a low ability of vanillin to induce chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes. The SCE test was performed as previously described (Jansson et al., 1986) and briefly as