title: Sister chromatid exchanges in smokers and smokers with alcohol habit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) test is a sensitive, biomarker of genotoxic substances. The present study was conducted to observe the frequency of SCEs in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 30 males with and without the habit of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects for this study were males aged between 25-50 years and were selected from the students, employees and the patients attending the outpatient department of Ragas dental college and Hospital, Chennai.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Controls, smokers, and smokers with alcohol habit were divided into two age groups as ≤30 years and ≥30 years. In controls the mean frequency of SCEs/cell in ≤30 years and ≥30 year's age group was 5.80 and 6.05, respectively. In Smokers SCEs/cell in ≤30 years and ≥30 year's age group was 7.7 and 8.8, respectively. In Smokers with alcohol habit SCEs/cell in ≤30 years and ≥30 years age group was 10.1 and 12.8, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, the duration of the smoking habit has shown a positive correlation with the mean SCE frequency. Whereas, frequency of the habit did not show any influence on the SCE levels. In smokers with alcohol habit, both the duration and frequency of their smoking habit has shown a significant effect on the SCE levels suggesting a synergistic effect of alcohol and smoking leading to excessive DNA damage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: J Vijay
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Tr
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saraswathi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ranganathan
authors.forename: Km
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Umadevi
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Joshua
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rooban