Determination of Possible Genotoxic Effectes of Monosodium Glutamate By The Hen's Egg Test for Micronucleus Induction (HET-MN)

In today's rapidly developing food technology, the use of food additives (FA) is quite common. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a widely used and preferred food additive, yet there is no clear consensus related its safety. The aim of this study is to determine the potential genotoxic effect of MSG using the Hen's egg test micronucleus (HET-MN) method. Three different doses of MSG (0,75, 0,38 and 0,10 µg/g egg) were injected into the air chamber of chicken eggs on the eighth day of incubation to determine. Cyclophosphamide (CP) was used as the positive control group, with a dose of 0,85 µg/g egg. On the 11th day of incubation, blood samples were collected from the embryos, and blood smears were prepared. They were stained using the modified May Grünwald-Giemsa staining method. The blood smears were examined under a light microscope, and micronucleus and nuclear abnormalities in erythrocytes were observed. According to the statistical analysis results, no genotoxic effect was observed at any of the three tested doses of MSG. Additionally, MSG did not induce any teratogenic effect at the tested doses. However, at the highest dose of MSG (0,75 µg/g egg), a significant increase in embryonic mortality and a significant decrease in live and relative embryo weights were observed. These data suggest that MSG may have an embryotoxic effect on chicken embryos. Keywords: chicken embryo, cyclophosphamide, food additives, genotoxicity