[Mutagenic properties if lead entering the body in its plant-biotransformed form]

The experiments on mice were used to study the mutagenic effect of green oat, with the lead content 24 times higher than its permissible level in vegetable products. The animals were fed with the oat for a long time (during 1/3 and 1/2 of their life), then the cytogenetic analysis of the bone marrow was made, and the dominant lethal mutations were studied in the sex cells. The results of the study showed no manifest chromosomal aberrations in the somatic cells, and no dominant lethal mutations in the sex cells of the mice, thus evidencing that under conditions of the experiments conducted, the green plant with a high lead content did not produce mutagenic effect.