Feeding of palm oil carotene to mice did not modify X-ray-induced chromosomal damage in bone marrow cells.

The influence of palm oil carotene treatment on X-ray-induced chromosomal damage in bone marrow cells of mice was studied. Palm oil carotene contains alpha- and beta-carotene in a ratio of 1:3. Mice were fed either a basal diet or carotene diet containing 50 mg of palm oil carotene/100 g for 15 days. On day 13, mice to be X-ray-irradiated received 0.5 Gy of X-ray to their whole bodies, and the chromosomal damage in bone marrow cells was evaluated in terms of the percentages of micronucleated reticulocytes in their peripheral blood on day 15. The chromosomal damage in the X-ray irradiated mice was 10 times higher than that in the unirradiated mice. The feeding of the carotene diet did not prevent the X-ray-induced chromosomal damage. In the bone marrow cells of mice fed the carotene diet, alpha- and beta-carotene were detected, but the concentration of the carotenes was less than one-hundredth of that of vitamin E. In addition, the feeding of carotene diet markedly reduced the concentration of vitamin E in bone marrow cells and serum. The X-ray irradiation reduced the concentration of vitamin C in the bone marrow cells, but did not reduce that of vitamin E or carotene in the cells.