The Cytokinesis-Block Micronucleus Assay on Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes as a Prospective Biological Test-System to Estimate the Influence of Radon on the Human Organism: Recent Progress and Future Prospects

Maxim Yu. Sinitsky

Department of Genetics, Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, Russia.

DOI: 10.4236/ojgen.2014.41001                

Abstract

This paper discusses the problem of assessing the negative after-effects of low doses of ionising radiation exposure in humans. Radon and its decay daughter products are the most widespread source of such irradiation. Miners (in both uranium and non-uranium mines) as well as laypeople in domestic life may be exposed to radon, making the problem of assessing the cytogenetic effects of exposure extremely crucial. One of the more promising test systems to assess the effect of radon is the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay (CBMN) on peripheral blood lymphocytes, which has a number of advantages over other cytogenetic techniques. Recent progress and future prospects of this cytogenetic method are discussed here.

Keywords

Micronucleus Assay; Micronuclei; CBMN; DNA Damage; Radon; Uranium; Coal; Miners

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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