Antioxidant Vitamin Diet Decreases the Rate
of Chromosomal Damage and Gene Mutation in Irradiated Mice

Two different methods were used to study the effect of the antioxidant vitamin mixture (AVM) containing - carotene, - tocopherol, ascorbic acid, rutin, and the microelements zinc and selenium on mouse resistance to acute and chronic irradiation. The micronucleus test demonstrated that a daily dietary supplement of AVM reliably decreased the rate of chromosomal damage, namely, X-ray-induced micronuclei in the bone marrow polychromatophilic erythrocytes of aging mice, but did not induce micronuclei formation in the young mice. Assay for somatic mutations in the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT)locus showed that AVM significantly decreased the rate of gene mutations in mouse splenocytes after chronic irradiation.

L. A. Fomenko, T. A. Bezlepkina, A. N. Anoshkin, and A. I. Gaziev

Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, 142292 Russia