A STUDY OF SELENIUM GENOTOXICITY IN THE MICRONUCLEUS TEST ON MICE

Genotoxicological characterization of sodium selenite in the micronucl eus test on BALB/c mice showed that a very small dose (0.2 mg/kg body weight), as well as higher doses (2.0 and 10.0 mg/kg body weight), app lied intramuscularly, induced higher micronuclei counts (11.20 +/- 1.9 2; 23.20 +/- 3.42; 40.00 +/- 4.00) in polychromatic erythrocytes of th e bone marrow. The count of induced micronuclei is statistically signi ficant (P<0.001) compared to that of spontaneous micronuclei (2.25 +/- 1.49) found in mice inoculated with physiological saline solution. Th erefore, much care should be taken when selenium preparations are used alone or in combination with vitamin E in the prevention or therapy o f different pathological states due to potential genotoixc effects.