Evaluation of the effect of food deprivation on micronucleus test results.
High doses of a test chemical sometimes affect the food consumption of the treated animals even to the point of starvation. The effect of such a non-specific toxicological stress on the bone marrow micronucleus test was investigated in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. A 42-h starvation had a noticeable effect on the ratio of polychromatic to normochromatic erythrocytes (PCE and NCE); the values in the starved animals were approx. 77% of the negative controls. An effect of starvation on the frequency of micronucleated erythrocytes (MN-E) was not discernable from the results of the present experiment.
D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013217:Starvation / Q000097:blood*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000097:blood*; D014116:Toxicology / Q000379:methods