Hormones are cellular products involved in the regulation of a large number
of processes in living systems, and which by their actions affect the growth,
function and metabolism of cells. Considering that hormones are compounds
normally present in the organism, it is important to determine if they can,
under certain circumstances, lead to genetic changes in the hereditary
material. Numerous experimental studies in vitro and in vivo in different
systems, from bacteria to mammals, dealt with the mutagenic and genotoxic
effects of hormones. This work presents an overview of the research on
genotoxic effects of non?steroidal hormones, although possible changes of
genetic material under their influence have not still been known enough, and
moreover, investigations on their genotoxic influence have given conflicting
results. The study results show that mechanisms of genotoxic effect of
nonsteroidal hormones are manifested through the increase of oxidative stress
by arising reactive oxygen species. A common mechanism of ROS occurence in
thyroid hormones and catecholamines is through metabolic oxidation of their
phenolic groups. Manifestation of insulin genotoxic effect is based on
production of ROS by activation of NADPH isophorms, while testing oxytocin
showed absence of genotoxic effect. Considering that the investigations on
genotoxicity of nonsteroidal hormones demonstrated both positive and negative
results, the explanation of this discordance involve limitations of test
systems themselves, different cell types or biological species used in the
experiments, different level of reactivity in vitro and in vivo, as well as
possible variations in a tissue-specific expression. Integrated, the provided
data contribute to better understanding of genotoxic effect of nonsteroidal
hormones and point out to the role and mode of action of these hormones in
the process of occurring of effects caused by oxidative stress.
Evaluation of cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of the benzodiazepine flunitrazepam in vitro and in vivo
