Phytother Res. 2002 Dec; 16(8): 754-7.

Inhibitory effect of chlorophyllin on the frequency of micronuclei induced by sodium nitrite in mice.

Diaz-Barriga Arceo S, HernÃ¡ndez-Ceruelos A, Madrigal-Bujaidar E, Chamorro G.

Laboratorio de CitogenÃ©tica FESC-UNAM, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias BiolÃ³gicas, Instituto PolitÃ©cnico Nacional, MÃ©xico.

In this report the potency of chlorophyllin (CHL) was evaluated to prevent two types of damage produced by nitrite in mice: the increase of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPE) and the bone marrow toxicity, measured as the index of polychromatic erythrocytes/normochromatic erythrocytes (PE/NE). The study was done in eight groups of male mice. The first three groups were administered orally for 4 days with sodium nitrite (10, 15 and 20 mg/kg), the daily administration with nitrite was followed by an intraperitoneal administration of CHL (4 mg/kg), three more groups were administered with the same amounts of nitrite, a seventh group of mice was treated with distilled water while another was treated with CHL (4 mg/kg). Our study produced two main results: (a) no bone marrow injury was induced by any of the tested chemicals, as indicated with the PE/NE index, and (b) CHL protected (as high as 44%) the MNPE produced in nitrite treated mice.Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.