Micronucleus and other nuclear abnormalities among betel quid chewers with or without sadagura, a unique smokeless tobacco preparation, in a population from North-East India

Genotoxicity is one of the important endpoints for risk assessment of various lifestyle factors. The study is the first report on the genotoxic effect associated with sadagura, a unique smokeless tobacco prepared in southern Assam province of North-East India. Sadagura is consumed with or without betel quid and/or smoking. In the present cytogenetic monitoring study, analysis of micronuceus (MN), nuclear bud, binucleated, karyorrhectic, karyolytic and pyknotic cells tests were performed in the exfoliated buccal cells of 75 habituates and compared to controls matched for gender, age, and habit. Significant increase in the frequency of MN was found in sadagura chewers (0.48%, P < 0.001), smokers (0.46%, P < 0.01), betel quid with sadagura chewers (0.91%, P < 0.001) and smokers chewing betel quid with sadagura (0.53%, P < 0.001) as compared to the unexposed control group (0.07%). Betel quid chewers showed significant increase (1.65%, P < 0.05) in the frequency of binucleated cells as compared to the control group (0.16%). Results of this study demonstrated that sadagura consumed as a single agent or in combination with betel quid, leads to a significant induction of cytogenetic damage in the buccal epithelial cells of habituates. We suggest that analysis of other degenerative nuclear changes in addition to MN can provide valuable information while evaluating potential genotoxic agents.