Abstract

Aim: Cigarettes and Waterpipe (Shisha) smoking is popular in many parts of the world. The evidence on cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of Waterpipe smoking is very rare in Duhok city/ Kurdistan region of Iraq. This study aimed to assess the micronucleus frequency exfoliated buccal mucosa cells in young smokers and assess whether the micronucleus levels in Waterpipe smokers are higher in cigarette smokers.
Material and Methods: We examined oral smears of 75 adults (25 for each group) cigarette smokers; Waterpipe smokers and never smoked tobacco in Duhok city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The total number of micronuclei per 1000 cells per subject was compared.
Results: The frequency of micronuclei in exfoliated buccal cells in healthy control ranged (0-4(, in smokers, ranged from (4-10(, while in Waterpipe smoking ranged from (3-16). The average micronuclei frequency in healthy control was (2.5 ±7), in smokers was (8.3±4) and in Waterpipe smoking was (10.2±9) per 1000 binucleated cells. A significantly higher frequency of micronuclei (p< 0.05) was determined in cigarette and Waterpipe smokers.
Conclusion: The cytotoxic effect of cigarette and Waterpipe smoking on buccal mucosa cells was significantly higher than nonsmokers. Increasing the smoking duration could heighten the frequency of micronucleus.

Key words: Waterpipe smoking, tobacco, buccal cells, micronuclei, cytogenetics.