Clastogenic effect of passive smoking on bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes of NMRI mice.

The genotoxic effect of passive inhalation of sidestream cigarette smoke on bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes was studied using male NMRI mice. The animals were placed in individual 145.2-dm3 glass chambers resembling a room provided with normal air flow. They were exposed to the sidestream smoke of a commercial brand of cigarettes smoked by a smoking machine under standard conditions. Increased formation of micronuclei within polychromatic erythrocytes (PCEs) of femoral bone marrow 30 h after passive smoking was regarded as being due to the clastogenic effect of the smoke. Passive inhalation of the diluted sidestream smoke of a single cigarette resulted in a significant increase (P less than 0.01) in the frequency of micronucleated PCEs. This clastogenic activity was found to be dose-dependent.