Formalin induced genotoxicity in rats and its amelioration with Eugenol and curcumin

Not a single in vitro assessment is able to detect the type of damage to cells; a number of tests are performed, like gene mutation, test for aberration of chromosomes, bone marrow MNT, and comet assay. The study was done with 6-10-week-old Wistar rats (n = 54), both male and female, weighing 200-250 grams, and divided into 9 groups with 6 animals in each group. Formalin at the rate of 40 mg/kg was administered for 10 days. Cyclophosphamide at 20 mg/kg was used as a positive control for genotoxicity and was administered 24 hours before sacrificing the experimental animals. Eugenol was used at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight. The present work was intended to assess the genotoxicity of formalin in Wistar rats, and Curcumin (50 mg/kg BW) was supplemented orally to evaluate its ameliorative effect on the induced toxicity. After 21 days of experimentation, blood was collected and the rats were sacrificed. Bone marrow flushing was taken for assessing chromosomal aberration and micronuclei assay. From a series of genotoxic tests, it was found that oral administration of 40 mg/kg BW of formalin induced a significant level (p