Abstract
This study was carried out to determine the genotoxic effects of oral application of CuSO 4 in rabbits by the chromosome aberration (CA) and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) tests. Ten male New Zealand rabbits (5 months old, weighing 3.5-4.0 kg) were allocated into two groups. The first group received CuSO 4 (5H2O) in drinking water for 6 con- secutive days. The second group was used as a control. On the 7 th day, blood samples were taken from the ear marginal vein and the SCE and CA tests in peripheral lymphocytes were used as genotoxicity and mutagenicity endpoints, respectively. Results showed a significant increase in the frequencies of the aberrant cells (7.4±0.24, P<0.001) and CA (chromatid frag- ments 3.2±0.37, chromosome fragments 4.2±0.37, P<0.001), and total aberrations (7.4±0.24, P<0.001) after the treatment with CuSO4 when compared with the control group. The level of SCE per cell in the CuSO4-treated rabbits (9.66±0.062) was significantly higher than in rabbits from the control group. These findings show that copper exhibits a genotoxic and mutagenic potential in rabbits.
Highlights
Lack of specific information makes it difficult to reach firm conclusions about the hazards of dietary metals (Rojas et al, 1999), especially for copper, which is among the most important
The toxicity of copper has been linked with reactive oxygen species (ROS) whose formation is catalyzed by free copper ions that can occur when the ability of the cells to store excess copper in a benign form has been exceeded (Linder, 2001)
The scoring of chromosome aberrations allows a direct assessment of the mutagenicity of various physical and chemical agents
Summary
Lack of specific information makes it difficult to reach firm conclusions about the hazards of dietary metals (Rojas et al, 1999), especially for copper, which is among the most important. Copper (Cu) is an essential trace element found in small amounts in a variety of cells and tissues, with the highest concentrations in the liver (Turnlund, 1998). It functions as a cofactor and is required for structural and catalytic properties of a variety of important enzymes and hormones (Gaetke and Chow, 2003; Turnlund, 1999; Uauy et al, 1998). The toxicity of copper has been linked with reactive oxygen species (ROS) whose formation is catalyzed by free copper ions (or certain complexes) that can occur when the ability of the cells to store excess copper in a benign form has been exceeded (Linder, 2001). Copper acts as a catalyst in the formation of ROS and catalyzes the peroxidation of membrane lipids (Chan et al, 1982); it is known to be as effective or even more effective than iron in causing DNA damage (Ozawa et al, 1993), protein or peptide modification (Uchida and Kawakishi, 1990), and oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (Esterbauer et al, 1990)
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