The micronucleus assay in human exfoliated urothelial cells: effect of smoking.
Micronucleated cell rates were examined in exfoliated urothelial cells of 73 healthy donors not occupationally exposed to mutagens or aneugens. Micronucleated cell levels averaged 0.54 +/- 0.68% in the entire population: they reached 1.09% in smokers, 0.95% in ex-smokers and 0.24% in non-smokers. Among variation factors evaluated during this study, only smoking had a significant effect on micronucleated cell rates (P = 0.007) whereas age and sex had no effect (P = 0.101 and P = 0.918). No significant difference was observed between micronucleated cell rates of smokers and ex-smokers, suggesting that smoking could generate clones of basal micronucleated cells in urothelial tissues.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D016296:Mutagenesis; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012907:Smoking; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014551:Urinary Tract / Q000166:cytology*