Evaluation of mutagenic effect of the antihypertensive drug methyldopa (Aldomet) on mammalian systems in vivo and in vitro and on Allium cepa.

The antihypertensive drug methyldopa (Aldomet) was tested for possible clastogenic activity on normal and hypertensive rats and on human lymphocyte cultures and for its influence on the cell cycle of Allium cepa. The drug had no clastogenic effect on rat bone marrow cells but showed a toxic effect on A. cepa root tip cells and significantly increased the frequency of sister-chromatid exchanges in lymphocyte cultures, without any effect on the frequency of chromosome aberrations.