Protective effect of sodium selenite against the genotoxicity of aflatoxin B1 in human whole blood cultures

This study was designed to investigate the effects of selenium and aflatoxin on human whole blood cultures (WBC) in relation to induction of sister-chromatid exchange (SCE). The results showed that the frequency of SCEs in peripheral lymphocytes was significantly increased by the direct-acting mutagen AFB1 (at doses 5 and 10 µM except for 1µM) compared to controls. When sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) was added alone at a molar ratio of 5x10-7 and 1x10-6, cells did not show significant increase in SCE frequency. Whereas, SCE rates induced by the various AFB1 concentrations could be significantly reduced by the presence of Na2SeO3 in a clear dose-related manner. These results indicated that selenite and AFB1 mutually antagonized their ability to cause DNA damage leading to the formation of SCEs. However, selenium didn't completely inhibit induction of SCEs by AFB1 compared to controls. This is first report describing, the protective ability of selenium againist AFB1 genotoxicity on human WBC