[Use of the micronucleus test for assessing the ecological situation in regions of the Astrakhan district].

The effect of industrial and agricultural contamination of the environment on the formation of micronuclei in peripheral blood cells of the lake frog Rana ridibunda P. was studied. Simultaneously, the influence of mutagenic contaminants on the human gene pool in Astrakhan' and Astrakhan' oblast' was analyzed. Frogs were trapped in three raions of Astrakhan' oblast': the villages of Trudfront and Verkhnii Buzan and Oblivnoi Island. Peripheral blood smears were prepared and cells with micronuclei and nuclear material were analyzed. Cells with micronuclei were 94.5 times more abundant in frogs from ecologically unfavorable Oblivnoi Island than in animals from Trudfront and 1.2 times more plentiful than in frogs from Verkhnii Buzan.