title: Modulation by Ethanol of Cigarette Smoke Clastogenicity in Cells of Adult Mice and of Transplacentally Exposed Fetuses.
abstract: Cigarette smoke (CS) and ethanol (EtOH) are known to synergize in the causation of cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract and of the liver. Little is known about possible interactions between these agents in other organs. These premises prompted us to evaluate the clastogenic effects resulting from the inhalation for 3 weeks of mainstream CS and oral administration of EtOH, which were tested either individually or in combination in cells of adult BDF1 mice and their fetuses. CS exerted clastogenic effects in haematopoietic cells of adult male mice by increasing the frequency of micronucleated erythroid cells both in bone marrow and in peripheral blood as well as the frequency of micronucleated and polynucleated pulmonary alveolar macrophages. Likewise, exposure to CS of pregnant mice resulted in a clastogenic damage in maternal bone marrow cells and in the liver and peripheral blood of their fetuses. Under all experimental conditions, EtOH was consistently devoid of clastogenic effects when given alone. In adult mice, EtOH exhibited a mild stimulating effect on the clastogenicity of CS in haematopoietic cells, while an opposite effect was observed in the respiratory tract, where EtOH attenuated the cytogenetic alterations induced by CS in pulmonary alveolar macrophages. At variance with the mild synergism observed in haematopoietic cells of adult mice, EtOH inhibited the clastogenicity of CS in the liver and peripheral blood cells of transplacentally exposed fetuses. Therefore, the effects of EtOH in CS-exposed mice show different trends depending both on the life stage and on the cells analyzed.
authors.affiliation: National Center of Oncology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Roumen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Balansky
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Sebastiano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: La Maestra
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosanna T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Micale
authors.affiliation: National Center of Oncology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Marietta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iltcheva
authors.affiliation: National Center of Oncology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Krassimir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirov
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Flora
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations / Q000139:chemically induced; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000187:drug effects*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D051379:Mice; D016296:Mutagenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol