Cytogenetic analysis of the residents of North Ossetia living in ecologically different regions

Background. Cytogenetic biomarkers are the most frequently used end point in human biomonitoring studies and are used extensively to assess the impact of environmental, occupational and medical factors on genomic stability.Materials and methods. The study was conducted on blood samples from 55 residents living in ecologically different areas of North Ossetia: 47 adults with the mean age of 34 ± 3.2 and 8 children with the mean age of 14 ± 1.0. Chromosome aberration analysis was performed on peripheral blood lymphocytes, cultures were incubated for 48h.Results. The results of the study showed a statistically significant difference between the frequencies of cells with chromosome aberrations among the residents living in ecologically different areas of North Ossetia. During the cytogenetic studies, three groups of residents living at different distances from the pollution source (a metallurgical enterprise) were examined, and significant variations of chromosomal aberrations frequencies have been found. In residents living up to 3 km from the enterprise the average frequency of chromosome aberrations was maximal (4.3 ± 0.5), while in residents from remote areas (more than 5 km) the f