[In vitro and in vivo micronucleus tests in genotoxicity research].

Working and living environment today is an unpredictable mixture of different chemical substances. Some of these chemicals are mutagenic carcinogens and others are aneugenic carcinogens. An additional burden to the human genome is the exposure to several kinds of radiations. Among a dozen genotoxicological methods in use in vitro and in vivo, the micronucleus assay has found application in the basic research, clinical research, and pharmacological studies. The advantage of in vivo and in vitro micronuclues assays is in the fact that they provide data on both clastogenic and aneugenic action of agents. Although several years behind the in vitro technique, the in vivo micronucleus assay has swiftly developed into a significant source of data in acute and chronic genotoxic investigations, as it does not require cell culture.