Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, PR China.
Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2011 Jun;60(1):144-50. doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2011.03.004. Epub 2011 Mar 22.
Melamine is a category III carcinogen. However, its illegal addition to milk and other protein products has led to the pet melamine poisoning in USA and infant renal calculus cases in China. Its long-term toxicity is not clear and needs to be investigated urgently to appease the public panic. In this study, the effects of melamine on mutagenesis in prokaryotes and eukaryotes were tested by Ames test, in vitro mammalian chromosome aberration test, mouse micronucleus test and sperm abnormality test; the effects of melamine on DNA damage in sperm cells were observed by single cell gel electrophoresis, and the effects on malignant transformation were examined by malignant transformation experiment of normal human liver cell line L02. The results show that melamine has no mutagenic function in prokaryotes and eukaryotes in vitro and in vivo, and does not induce malignant cell transformation after long-term exposure. However, it has ability to increase sperm abnormality rate and DNA damage.
三聚氰胺属于三类致癌物。然而，其被非法添加至牛奶和其他蛋白质产品中，导致了美国宠物三聚氰胺中毒和中国婴儿肾结石病例。其长期毒性尚不明确，需要紧急调查，以平息公众恐慌。在这项研究中，通过 Ames 试验、体外哺乳动物染色体畸变试验、小鼠微核试验和精子畸形试验，测试了三聚氰胺对原核生物和真核生物的致突变作用；通过单细胞凝胶电泳观察三聚氰胺对精子细胞 DNA 损伤的影响，并通过正常人类肝细胞系 L02 的恶性转化试验检测其对恶性转化的影响。结果表明，三聚氰胺在体外和体内均无致突变作用，长期暴露也不会诱导恶性细胞转化。然而，它有增加精子畸形率和 DNA 损伤的能力。
