Mitoclastic and Clastogenic Effects of Aspirin on Mouse Bone-marrow Cells in vivo

Abstract

One ml each of sterile aqueous solutions of aspirin (acetyl salicylic acid) at 1 μg/ml, 10μg/ml and 100 μg/ml were injected intraperitoneally into different inbred Swiss albino mice ofabout 30 g weight. After 24 hr, bone marrow was extracted from the femurs and cytological preparations were made. There was a marked depression in the mitotic indices of the bone marrow cells, in treated mice corresponding to the concentration of aspirin compared to that of controls. Mitotic arrests and apindle abnormalities were also encountered. The drug was also capable of inducing chromosome fragmentation, pulverization, stickiness and sticky bridges. These observation clearly show that aspirin is both mitoclastic and clastogenic even at very low concentrations, and hence its indiscriminate use has to be discouraged.