Genotoxic effects of N-nitrosodimethylamine in somatic and generative cells of mice

Abstract

N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) was shown to have genotoxic properties in acute and subacute studies on laboratory mice. The organ-specificity of the genotoxic effect of NDMA was revealed using the Comet assay. The most sensitive organs to the action of NDMA were kidneys and liver. DNA damage in liver cells of NDMA-treated animals at doses of 4.0 and 8.0 mg/kg, increased compared to control in 6.9 and 12.5 (р < 0.001), and in kidney cells – in 8.1 and 14.2 times (р < 0.001), respectively. NDMA also showed genotoxic activity in the reproductive cells of experimental animals, causing structural disorders of synaptonemal complexes in spermatocyte. In NDMA-treated animals at a dose of 2.0 mg/kg in acute and subacute studies, the level of spermatocytes with damaged synaptonemal complexes increased statistically significantly compared to control in 6.0 and 7.0 (р < 0.05) times, respectively.