ABSTRACT
The effects of DNA damage induced by the typical environmental pollutant acetaldehyde were studied with single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) and high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC). The results showed that acetaldehyde not only could cause DNA strand breakage but also DNA-DNA, DNA-protein crosslinks of lymphocytes of human peripheral blood. The reaction of acetaldehyde with DNA in vitro was weak, but the oxidative ability was enhanced and the reaction could produce a number of 8-OHdG adducts mediated by the Fe2+. The animal experiment shows that acetaldehyde can cause the oxidative DNA damage of rat lung tissues, which suggests that acetaldehyde have the potential genotoxicity and its chemical mechanism is relative to the crosslinks and oxidation with DNA.
