Avaliação de danos genéticos e apoptose em mulheres menopausadas que fazem uso da terapia de reposição hormonal

Objective

To evaluate through the micronucleus test in exfoliated cells of oral mucosa the genotoxicity of hormones used in hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Material and methods

Forty postmenopausal women were selected and divided into four groups of ten: G0 (not submitted to HRT), G1 (HRT with estrogen), G2 (HRT with estrogen and progestogen) and G3 (HRT with tibolone). Exfoliated cells of oral mucosa were collected and processed for analysis of chromosomal damage (micronuclei) and apoptosis, inferred by the sum of nuclear degenerative alterations (picnosis, cariorréxis and condensed chromatin). Two thousand cells were analyzed by participant. Statistical analysis was performed using the conditional test to compare proportions in a situation of rare events.

Results

The frequency of micronuclei did not differ between groups (p > 0.05). Apoptotic cells were significantly higher among women from G0 when compared to the other groups (p < 0.01). The groups submitted to HRT did not differ in apoptosis occurrence (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

These results indicate that, as assessed in this study, TRH does not induce chromosomal damage, however, due to the anti‐apoptotic effect, cells genetically damaged can proliferate, favoring the malignant transformation process