Effects of vitamin A on doxorubicin-induced chromosomal aberrations in bone marrow cells of rats

The present study was carried out to evaluate the role of vitamin A (VA) on the induction of chromosomal aberrations (CA) in rat bone marrow cells and to investigate its modulating effect on chromosomal damage induced by doxorubicin (DXR). Wistar rats were treated with VA (7.5, 15 and 30 mug/kg body wt) once a day for 2 days by gavage before injecting DXR (90 mg/kg body wt). Rats in the control group were treated with corresponding doses of water and olive oil. Animals treated with the medium dose of VA (15 mug/kg body wt) plus single dose of DXR presented a statistically significant reduction in total number of CA and in number of abnormal metaphases (P < 0.05). However, when compared with control and DXR groups, the low and high VA doses (7.5 and 30 mug/kg body wt) were found to be less efficient than the medium dose VA (15 mug/kg body wt) in terms of parameters analyzed. Furthermore, the high dose of VA group (30 mug/kg body wt) was found to be clastogenic (P < 0.05). This study concludes that the protective effect of VA against chromosome damage is dose dependent.