The investigation of genotoxic effects of sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) which used as food preservative in apricot sulfurization and several fabricated foods is a common air pollutant. Workers involved in apricot sulfurization inhale SO2 gas during the sulfurization processes. It is known that exposure to SO2 gas cause diseases of pulmonary, cancer and also mortality at high dosage. In this study, possible genotoxic effects of SO2 were evaluated on human lymphocyte chromosomes using chromosome aberrations (CA), sister chromatide exchanges (SCE), micronucleus (MN) and cell growth kinetics as parameters. SO2 treated three different concantrations as 0.05, 0.50 and 1.00 ppm dosage. SO2 induced CA at all concantrations. Similary there was a significant increase in the frequency of SCE and MN in middle and high dosage groups as compared to control group. SO2 decreased mitotic index and replication index at all concantrations. In condution, SO2 has potent mutagenity and it can cause genetic damage leading to a malignancy.