• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.34-43
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• 2001

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is the most commonly used phthalate ester in polyvinyl chloride formulations including food packing and storage of human blood. DEHP is a well known as non-genotoxic carcinogen and endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC). DEHP have shown all negative results in ICH-guildeline recommended standard genotoxicity test battery. In this study, to assess the clastogenic and DNA damaging effect in human-derived tissue specific cells, DEHP was treated in human derived MCE-7 cells, HepG2 cells, LNCap cells, BeWo cells, MCE-10A cells, and female peripheral blood cells using micronucleus assay and in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells up to $1.28$\times$10^{-2}$ M using Comet assay. The in vitro micronucleus assay is a mutagenicity test system for the detection of chemicals which induce the formation of small membrane bound DNA fragment i.e. micronuclei in the cytoplasm of interphase cells, originated from clastogenic and/or aneugenic mechanism. The single cell gel electrophoresis assay (Comet assay) is used to detect DNA strand-breaks and alkaline labile site. In our results, DEHP increased significantly and/or dose-depentently and time-dependently micronucleus frequency at the 6 and 24 hr without metabolic activation system only in MCE-7 cells. DEHP treated with 2 hrs in MCF-7 cells using Comet assay induced DNA damage dose-depentantly.