Abstract

Recently, retinoids have been studied for their ability to modify the carcinogenic/mutagenic activity of chemical compounds. Results show that they can inhibit the malignant transformation of cells, the induction of cancer in experimental animals and the mutagenkity of promutagens. Our experiments examine how retinol and retinoic acid can decrease the frequency of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) induced by two indirect mutagens/carcinogens (cyclophosphamide and 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracite) in an epithelial liver cell line of male Chinese hamster (CHEL cells). These cells are metabolkally competent and activate different classes of promutagens into biologically active metabolites. Our results are consistent with the suggestion that retinoids modulate the genotoxicity of indirect-acting mutagens by altering their metabolic activation or cellular detoxification processesO or both.

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