Abstract

PACHECO-MARTINEZ, M. Monserrat; CORTES-BARBERENA, Edith; RODRIGUEZ-CRUZ, Leonor  and  ORTIZ-MUNIZ, Rocío. Effect of severe malnutrition on mutation frequencies in the Pig-a gene in rat reticulocytes and erythrocytes. TIP [online]. 2018, vol.21, suppl.2, e20180156.  Epub Dec 02, 2020. ISSN 1405-888X.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fesz.23958723e.2018.0.156.

Poor assimilation of food in the body leads to malnutrition or undernutrition (UN), a pathological condition with varying degrees and clinical manifestations.

In recent years, a new test using in vivo somatic mutation detection based on the gene glycosylphosphatidy-linositol Class A (Pig-a) has been developed.

This gene is essential for the synthesis of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor (GPI) that attaches specific proteins to the cell surface. When a Pig-a mutation takes place, GPI synthesis is blocked; hence, proteins are not found on the cell membrane generating a negative GPI phenotype, which can be easily detected using flow cytometry. The Pig-a assay was used in this study to analyze gene damage in a malnutrition model exposed to mutagen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU). The assay was based on a differential staining of reticulocytes (RET) and erythrocytes (E) from peripheral blood of Wistar strain rats. Increased frequencies of mutant (MF) Pig-a, which were analyzed by 1 X 106 cells for 8 weeks, indicated damage to the genetic material of cells. The results demonstrate that UN itself has a deleterious effect on the integrity of genetic material. The MF increased depending on the dose and the time rats were exposed to UN.

Keywords : malnutrition; undernutrition; ENU; reticulocytes; erythrocytes; Pig-a assay; mutation; flow cytometry.

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