Genotoxic Effect of Chronic Exposure to DDT on Lymphocytes, Oral Mucosa and Breast Cells of Female Rats

Alejandro Canales-Aguirre,Ruth De Celis,Alfredo Feria-Velasco,Eduardo Padilla-Camberos,Hugo Salado-Ponce,Ulises Gómez-Pinedo

doi:10.3390/ijerph8020540

Abstract

The genotoxicity of some environmental contaminants may affect human health directly by damaging genetic material and thus plays an important role in cancer development. Xenoestrogens are one kind of environmental pollutants that may alter hormonal routes or directly affect DNA. The number of available biomarkers used to assess genetic risk and cancer is very extensive. The present study evaluated genotoxicity produced by the pesticide DDT on systemic and mammary gland cells obtained from adult female Wistar rats. Oral mucosa cells micronuclei were assessed; the comet assay in peripheral blood-isolated lymphocytes and mammary epithelial cells was also carried out. Additionally, oxidative stress was studied in mammary tissue through a lipid peroxidation assay. Our data showed an increase in lipid peroxidation, product of an increase in free oxygen radical levels, which leads to an oxidative stress status. Our results suggest that DDT is genotoxic, not only for lymphocytes but also to mammary epithelial cells.

Highlights

There has been an increasing concern among the general and medical community in relation to the potential environmental hazard that estrogens present to health in general, the mechanisms by which they affect homeostasis are still barely known [1,2,3]
Only about 10% is considered to be provoked by endogenous reasons; the rest can be attributed to external environmental factors acting in conjunction with endogenous factors, where individual susceptibility is important [8,9]
Many other chemical carcinogens, such as benzo[a]pyrene and aflatoxin B1, are known to induce oxidative damage into DNA, which plays an important role on carcinogenesis [34], and the genotoxic effect on oral mucosa cells is demonstrated in the experimental models by MN formation after a long-term inhaled DDT exposure

Summary

Introduction

There has been an increasing concern among the general and medical community in relation to the potential environmental hazard that estrogens present to health in general, the mechanisms by which they affect homeostasis are still barely known [1,2,3]. The micronuclei (MN) index in bone marrow and the peripheral erythrocyte count are a couple of the most accepted in vivo cytogenetic bioassays in the field of genetic toxicology [13]. This test can be used in those tissues where exfoliated cells have been obtained [14,15]. Oxidative stress is one of the best known causes of cellular damage, mostly due to the formation of free radicals that damage cell DNA [19]; in recent years malondialdehyde (MDA)

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