Evaluation of the effect of food deprivation on micronucleus test results.

High doses of a test chemical sometimes affect the food consumption of the treated animals even to the point of starvation. The effect of such a non-specific toxicological stress on the bone marrow micronucleus test was investigated in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. A 42-h starvation had a noticeable effect on the ratio of polychromatic to normochromatic erythrocytes (PCE and NCE); the values in the starved animals were approx. 77% of the negative controls. An effect of starvation on the frequency of micronucleated erythrocytes (MN-E) was not discernable from the results of the present experiment.