Abstract: BACKGROUND ＆ AIM： To assess the effects of selenium on MMC-induced DNA damage in human peripheral lymphocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS： The effects of selenium on the DNA damage and chromosome damage induced by MMC were evaluated using single cell gel electrophoresis(SCGE)，sister chromatid exchange(SCE) and chromosome aberrations (CA) in human peripheral lymphocytes. RESULTS: The tail length ,SCE frequencies and the chromosomal aberration rate of three doses of selenium were significantly lower than that of the positive control. Furthermore, the extent of DNA damage of medium dose group of selenium(6 μmol/L) was lower than the other groups. CONCLUSION: To some extent, selenium could protect DNA damage induced by MMC. The protective effect of medium dose of selenium (6 μmol/L) was stronger than the other doses.

Key words: selenium, mitomycin, comet assay, sister chromatid exchange, chromosome aberrations, DNA damage