Acetaldehyde (AAld) is a ubiquitous compound in the environment. Exposure may occur in its manufacture or use, in the consumption of alcoholic beverages and through cigarette smoke. It causes distant target effects, including DNA damage, glutathione depletion, enzyme inactivation and cell death. In the present work, its potential teratogenic, mutagenic and recombinagenic effects in somatic cells of D. melanogaster were analyzed. The white/white+ (w/w+) eye mosaic test (Somatic Mutation And Recombination Test, SMART) was applied by mating w/w females with y/Y males. Larvae of 48 ± 4 h were transferred to media with 0.01 %, 0.02 %, 0.05 % and 0.10 % AAld for 12 hs and then moved to regular media until pupation. The emerging w/w+ females were evaluated for... |