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Mutagenesis, Vol. 15, No. 6, 517-523, November 2000
© 2000 UK Environmental Mutagen Society/Oxford University Press

Increased cytogenetic damage detected by FISH analysis on micronuclei in peripheral lymphocytes from alcoholics

Francesca Maffei1, Carmela Fimognari, Elena Castelli2, Giuseppe F. Stefanini3, Giorgio Cantelli Forti and Patrizia Hrelia

Department of Pharmacology, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 48, 40126 Bologna, 2 Centro per lo Studio ed il Trattamento Multidisciplinare dell'Uso Inadeguato dell'Alcol `G.Fontana' Sant'Orsola Hospital, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna and 3 Medical Clinic Unit, `Ospedale degli Infermi', Faenza, Italy

Alcohol abuse greatly increases the risk of various malignancies, including cancer of the liver and digestive tract. Although it is thought that this may be due, at least partially, to the mutagenic properties of ethanol, little is known about the genotoxic effects of ethanol in humans. We investigated the chromosomal damage in lymphocytes from 20 alcoholics and 20 controls using the micronucleus (MN) assay combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with a pancentromeric DNA probe capable of differentiating centromere positive (C+) from centromere negative (C–) MN. The frequency of MN in binucleate lymphocytes was significantly higher in alcoholics than in controls (12.0 ± 5.4 and 7.6 ± 1.6, respectively; P < 0.05). FISH revealed significantly higher frequencies of C+ MN in alcoholics than in controls (8.2 ± 4.8 and 3.4 ± 1.4, respectively; P < 0.05). In the alcoholics, no association was found between years of alcohol abuse and frequency of MN or C+ MN. However, age influenced MN and C+ MN frequency both in alcoholics and controls. These results indicate that alcohol abuse may well induce chromosome loss in humans, suggesting a possible aneugenic mechanism of alcohol. This effect could contribute to the health hazards related to alcoholism such as cancer risk.

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fmaffei{at}biocfarm.unibo.it


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