Effect of selenium on cadmium genotoxicity investigated by micronucleus assay

Cadmium is known to be one of the most toxic environmental and industrial pollutant which produces DNA damage and lipid peroxide in vitro and in vivo. Antioxidant activity of selenium is known but molecular mechanisms of cadmium toxicity and interaction with antioxidants have not been adequately studied. In our study, micronucleus assay was used for genotoxicity testing. V79 cells (chinese hamster lung fibroblasts) are treated by various concentrations of Cd (5-50 microM CdCl2) in the first group of experiment and in the second group, the cells were pre-treated by selenium (25 microM Na2SeO3) before cadmium application. The protective effect of selenium was observed by no significant increase of micronucleus frequency with various cadmium concentrations (control - 8 MN, 50 microM CdCl2 - 11 MN) with respect to those obtained with cadmium treatment only (control - 5 MN, 50 microM CdCl2 - 23 MN).