ETHANOL POTENTIATES THE CLASTOGENICITY OF PAN MASALA - AN IN-VITRO EXPERIENCE

The significance of the interaction between alcohol and tobacco in cau sing head and neck cancers is well documented. Our previous reports on in vitro studies using aqueous and organic extracts as well as cytoge netic studies among pan masala consumers have conclusively shown the g enotoxic potential of pan masala-a dry mixture of the areca nut, lime, catechu, unspecified flavouring agents, etc., often containing tobacc o in it and is widely consumed in India. Now in the present report, th e clastogenic effect of ethanol and pan masala in different combinatio ns was evaluated on Chinese hamster ovary cells utilizing chromosome a berration (CA) frequency as an endpoint. An ethanol concentration of u p to 2.0 % had no effect on CA/cell value, The low-dose continuous tre atment and high-dose shortterm pre-, post- and simultaneous treatment of ethanol and aqueous extract of pan masala with and without tobacco yielded dose-dependent elevations in CA frequency, compared to any of these two substances alone. Thus, these results provide evidence that alcohol consumption may potentially increase the risk of oral cancer a mong pan masala chewers.