Although
formaldehyde is widely used in consumer goods to protect
the products from spoil
age by microbial contaminations
, research has shown
that
it
ha
s
various side
effects. Therefore
t
he aim of this study was to
investigate the cyto
genetic
effects of formaldehyde solution on mice
,
and
investigate the possible
protective
effect of vitamin C a
gainst the
cytogenetic
effects of formaldehyde. Thirty
-
six Swiss albino mice were exposed to various
concentrations of
formaldehyde. The
animals were divided in to six groups
(two groups received 1
/10 LD
50
,
1/5 LD
50
of
formaldehyde
other two groups
receive
d vitamin C in addition to 1
/10 LD
50
,
1/5 LD
50
of
formaldehyde and two
control groups)
. Animals were sam
pled at two different times (48
and 72 hrs).
The results revealed that the formaldehyde increased the number of structural
and numerical chromosomal abe
rrations, and
decrease the rate of cell division
(mitotic index) at either 48 or 72 hrs
.
T
here is no significance difference
between the two doses of formaldehyde were observed.
Moreover, the use of
vitamin C
g
ave
promising results against formaldehyde tox
icity as it
significantly decreased the frequency of chromosomal aberrations and
improving rate of cell division.