RESEARCH ARTICLE
Investigating Micronucleus Changes in Mouse Lymphocytes Due to Exposure to Silica Dust
Farideh Golbabaei1, Abdollah Gholami2, *, Gholamheidar Teimori-Boghsani3, Mojtaba Kianmehr4, Mehdi Yaseri5
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2019Volume: 9
First Page: 17
Last Page: 21
Publisher ID: TOBIOMJ-9-17
DOI: 10.2174/1875318301909010017
Article History:
Received Date: 08/12/2018Revision Received Date: 23/01/2019
Acceptance Date: 28/01/2019
Electronic publication date: 22/03/2019
Collection year: 2019
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background and Objectives:
Occupational exposure to silica dust has multiple consequences, including genetic complications. One of the genetic complications is Micronucleus (MN) changes; therefore, this study aims to evaluate the rate of MN formation in mouse lymphocyte cells due to exposure to silica dust.
Materials and Methods:
Totally 72 male mice BALB/c were selected and categorized into five exposure groups with 12 mice in exposure to the concentrations of 1.3, 3, 8, 12, and 17 mg/m3 of 99% pure silica dust and a control group. The mice were exposed to silica dust in which they were exposed for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, and for 1, 2, 3, and 4 months. Then, blood samples were taken from the mice and the rate of MN formation in their lymphocyte cells was evaluated. The results were analyzed via SPSS software version 21 (P<0.05).
Results:
Maximum and minimum averages of dust concentration, related to boxes 1 and 5, were 17 mg/m3 and 1.3 mg/m3, respectively. Maximum rate of MN formation was observed in the fourth month of exposure and in group 1 with the value of 21.6±1.15, and minimum rate of MN formation was observed in the third month of exposure and in control group with the value of 3±1. Average of MN frequencies in each of the exposure month was significant related to the control group (P=0.001). There was a direct and significant correlation between exposure concentrations of exposed group and average rate of MN formation (r=0.679).
Conclusions:
More than 3 months exposure to silica dust may lead to significant MN formation in lymphocytes of mice BALB/c in comparison with the control group.
