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Is Tobacco Smoke a Germ-Cell Mutagen?
Citation:
DEMARINI, D. M. Is Tobacco Smoke a Germ-Cell Mutagen? Presented at Environmental Mutagen Society 41st Annual Meeting, Fort Worth, TX, October 23 - 27, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
This talk reviews the evidence that tobacco smoke may be a human germ-cell mutagen, which would indicate that smoking may have deleterious effects on unexposed, future generations.
Description:
Although no international organization exists to declare whether an agent is a germ-cell mutagen, tobacco smoke may be a human germ-cell mutagen. In the mouse, tobacco smoke induces a significant increase in the mutation frequency at an expanded simple tandem repeat (ESTR) locus. Based on the autoradiographic HPRTassay with umbilical cord blood, there was an elevated mutant frequency in the children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy relative to those of nonsmoking mothers. The mutation spectrum at HPRT also differs in T-lymphocytes in children from smokers versus children from nonsmokers. In utero exposure to tobacco smoke increases translocation frequencies and DNA strand breaks in lymphocytes of the newborn. Males who smoke have elevated frequencies of the following in their sperm: aneuploidy, DNA strand breaks, meiosis II non-disjunction of the sex chromosomes, oxidative damage (increased 8-0HdG), and DNA adducts. Women who smoke have decreased numbers of retrieved oocytes, increased frequencies of diploid complements of chromosomes in oocytes, and increased occurrence of triploid zygotes. Cervical mucus of smokers is more mutagenic than that of nonsmokers, and amniotic fluid from smokers induces higher frequencies of SCEs in CHO cells than that from nonsmokers. Cervical epithelial cells from smokers have higher frequencies of micronuclei than those from nonsmokers. Paternal smoking is associated with increased risk of childhood cancer. These and other data will be reviewed to support the possibility that smoking may cause germ-cell mutations. [Abstract does not necessarily reflect the policies ofthe U.S. EPA.l