Development and validation of the in vivo alkaline comet assay for detecting genomic damage in marine flatfish.

Biomonitoring is an important subject within environmental sciences. Biomonitoring tests are required to be quick, relatively inexpensive, accurate, and reproducible. No genetic test currently fulfils all of these requirements.

In vitro genotoxic effects of hard metal particles assessed by alkaline single cell gel and elution assays.

Hard metals (WC-Co) are made of a mixture of cobalt metal (Co, 5-10%) and tungsten carbide particles (WC, >80%). Excessive inhalation of WC-Co is associated with the occurrence of different lung diseases including an excess of lung cancers. The elective toxicity of hard metal is based on a physico-chemical interaction between cobalt metal and tungsten carbide particles to produce activated oxygen species.

Cytogenetic studies of PCB77 on brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) using the micronucleus test and the alkaline comet assay.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are stable pollutants, which can be found in almost every compartment of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They are very lipophilic and therefore have the potency of accumulating in the fat stores of animals. The mechanisms by which PCBs exert their adverse effects are still unclear.

PCBs do not induce DNA breakage in vitro in human lymphocytes.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are classified by IARC as non-mutagenic in vivo. However, despite almost 20 years of research, their mutagenicity in vitro is still debatable. In this work the in vitro cytochalasin B micronucleus test and the alkaline comet assay applied to human lymphocytes were used to study the genotoxicity of a PCB.