2 research outputs found
Effects of Benzopyrene-7,8-Diol-9,10-Epoxide (BPDE) In Vitro and of Maternal Smoking In Vivo on Micronuclei Frequencies in Fetal Cord Blood
Up to 20% of pregnant women smoke and there is indirect evidence that certain
tobacco-specific metabolites can cross the placental barrier and are genotoxic to
the fetus. The presence of micronuclei results from chromosome damage and
reflects the degree of underlying genetic instability. Fetal blood was obtained
from the cord blood of 143 newborns (102 from nonsmoking mothers and 41 from
mothers smoking >10 cigarettes/d during pregnancy). The micronucleus assay was
performed following the guidelines established by the Human MicroNucleus project
with modifications. To test the micronucleus assay, we evaluated the effect of a
range of benzopyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide concentrations (from 3.125 nM to 4
microM) on cord blood from nonsmoking mothers. This validation showed that the
number of micronuclei and apoptotic cells increased with
benzopyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide dose (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.001, respectively);
the minimal detectable effect was induced by 12.5 nM
benzopyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide. In our sample, the number of MN was
significantly higher in the 41 cord blood samples from mothers who smoked during
pregnancy [smokers: 4 (1; 10.5); nonsmokers: 3 (0; 8); p = 0.016]. Therefore, the
data reported herein support the hypothesis that tobacco compounds are able to
induce chromosomal losses and breaks that are detectable as an increased number
of micronuclei