Modification of benzo(a)pyrene induced chromosomal damage in mouse bone marrow by Vitamin A

Abstract

Benzo(a)pyrene (BP) is one of the major atmospheric pollutants emitted in coal furnaces, automobile exhausts etc. It exerts its mutagenic/carcinogenic effects only after metabolic activation (Kliesch et al 1982). The metabolic conversion of BP and majority of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is catalysed in vivo by the microsomal mixed function oxydase system. It was reported that during the process of oxygenation of BP leading to the formation of the ultimate mutagenic product, arachidonic acid (AA) was converted to prostaglandins (PGs) of 2 series (Sivarajah et al 1978). Further, the oxygenated product of BP namely 7,8-dihydrodiol was mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium TA98 on incubation with ram seminal vesicle microsomes in the presence of AA (Marnett et al 1978).