[The frequency of micronuclei in lymphocytes from cord blood as a marker of exposure to mutagenic factors].

The aim of the study was a preliminary recognition of effect of mutagenic factors which passed through placenta and influenced cells of the foetus during third trimester of the pregnancy. The research group of being studied was 31 newborns, born at the Department of Gynaecology and Infertility of Jagiellonian University Medical College in Kraków, and their mothers. The neonates (cord blood) and mothers (peripheral blood) were examined for presence of micronuclei (MN) in cultured lymphocytes by using the whole blood method. Significant difference between mother's and neonate's frequencies of micronuclei indicates on less exposure to genotoxic factors of neonates.