Tradescantia micronucleus test

Ma T-H, Harris MM. 1985. Genotoxicity studies of formaldehyde using Tradescantia-micronucleus test [Abstract]. Environ Mutagen 7 42. 

Ma, T-H. Tradescantia micronucleus bioassay and pollen tube chromatid aberration test for in situ monitoring and mutagen screening. Environ. Health Perspect. 37 85-90, 1981. 

Ma TH et al., Tradescantia micronucleus (Trad-MCN) tests on 140 health-related agents, Mutat. Res., 138, 157, 1984. 

No mutagenic activity of fo-ti aqueous extracts was reported in the Ames test for mutagenicity (Kam 1981). Antimutagenic activity of fo-ti was observed in a Tradescantia micronucleus assay (Zhang et al. 1999). 

Higher plants have been used in tests for genotoxicity that are discussed in more detail in Section 7.3.3. For example, the onion Allium cepa has been used not only in root elongation assays for toxicity but to detect mitotic, cytoki-netic, and chromosomal aberration in the root tips (Fiskesjo 1995). A micronucleus assay that detects chromosome breaks in Tradescantia sp. planted in areas suspected of pollution has been used (Sandhu et al. 1991) and suggests the possible value of such assays in the terrestrial environment or as an indicator of atmospheric pollution. 

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