Micronucleus Frequencies in Mononucleated Cells of People Living in Takandeang Village – A High Level of Natural Radiation Area in Indonesia

The evaluation of micronucleus in mononucleated
cells (MNMNC) could give a more comprehensive information about genomic instability in population exposed to high level of natural background radiation. Here in this study the evaluation of MNMNC in Takandeang Village, Mamuju inhabitants was performed to obtain more clearly information about genomic instability in population exposed to high level of natural background radiation. Twenty seven
healthy adult subjects from Takandeang Village and normal background radiation area were included in this study. Results showed that mean MNMNC of Takandeang Village inhabitants were significantly higher compared to control samples [3.96 ± 0.488 vs 1.96 ± 1.675; p<0.05]. The age and gender factors did not affect the MNMNC in all samples (p>0.05). It is possible that the high background radiation
exposure received by Takandeang Village inhabitants induced the aneugenic effect in lymphocytes. Overall our study showed that scoring of MNMNC can provide additional information in cytokinesis block micronucleus (CBMN) assay.