Effects of age on the frequency of micronuclei and degenerative nuclear abnormalities

Abstract The effects of aging, gender and lifestyle factors on inducing chromosomal damage (micronuclei) and nuclear degenerative changes were assessed using the micronucleus test on exfoliated cells of the oral mucosa. The sample included 80 healthy subjects divided into four groups according to age and gender: men and women aged 19-29 years (M19, W19) and men and women aged over sixty years (M60, W60). An interview questionnaire was used to characterize the sample and to determine an index reflecting lifestyle (HLI). The frequency of micronuclei and nuclear degenerative changes was significantly higher among the elderly (p0.05). The occurrence of micronuclei was similar among elderly men and women (p>0.10), but karyorrhexis and karyolysis were more frequent among men (p摘要 本研究采用微核试验（micronucleus test）对口腔黏膜脱落细胞进行检测，评估衰老、性别及生活方式因素对染色体损伤（微核）与核退行性改变的诱导效应。研究样本包含80名健康受试者，按年龄与性别分为四组：19~29岁男性（M19）、19~29岁女性（W19），以及60岁以上男性（M60）与60岁以上女性（W60）。通过访谈问卷对样本进行特征分析，并计算反映生活方式的指数（HLI）。结果显示，老年群体的微核及核退行性改变频率显著更高（p0.05）；老年男性与女性的微核发生率相近（p>0.10），但核固缩与核溶解在男性群体中更为常见（p