Comparative study of the effects of vitamin C and bleomycin on smokers' and non-smokers' lymphocytes in clastogenicity assays

Free radicals are products of metabolic reactions and of external factors t hat can injure different biological molecules. However, different antioxida nt agents can prevent the action of these reactive species and the damage t hey cause. Vitamin C (VC) is an important micronutrient found in the diet, which presents defense mechanisms against the free radicals that challenge the cells of the organism. The objective of the present study was to invest igate the effect of VC as a modulator of the damage induced in DNA by bleom ycin (BLM) in lymphocytes from smokers and non-smokers. The difference in r esponse to the mutagenic potential of BLM between smokers and non-smokers w as also investigated. Peripheral blood lymphocyte cultures were treated sim ultaneously with BLM (20 mu g/ml) and/or VC (100, 200, and 400 mu g/ml) in the GZ phase of the cell cycle. The results obtained did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference in the response to the antitumor agent BLM between smokers and non-smokers. The data also showed that VC had no s ignificant modulating effect on the frequency of chromosome aberrations ind uced by BLM in the cells of smokers and non-smokers under the experimental conditions used. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.