The basic mechanism of ageing refers to the instability in the organization and expression of the genetic material, which induces DNA strand breaks, chromosomal loss and nuclear anomalies. Subsequent loss of DNA repair mechanism with age also causes irreversible damage to the genetic material. The present study is an attempt to understand the effect of ageing on the incidences of micronuclei in the exfoliated buccal epithelial cells of healthy individuals of Haryana using micronucleus assay. The study was conducted on 150 healthy individuals of four age groups with mean ages of 18.45±0.31, 28.25±0.87, 46.42±1.00 and 66.37±0.79 years respectively. The mean frequencies of MN, BN, BE, KL and KH were found to be significantly different in all the age groups (p<0.05). There was a significantly positive correlation observed between age and nuclear anomalies (p<0.01) demonstrating increase in the chromosomal damage with increasing age.

Keywords: Ageing; DNA damage; Chromosome; Micronucleus test.