[Mutagenic effects of coal tar used in the treatment of psoriasis]

Pharmaceutic tar used in the treatment of psoriasis has a high contents of polycyclic aromatic carbohydrates which are considered to be carcinogenic.The study is aimed at the estimation of the genotoxic risk arising from the treatment of psoriatic patients by pharmaceutic tar. The estimation is performed by biomonitoring.The used methods included: bacterial test on TA 98 strain of Salmonella typhimurium aimed at the assessment of mutagenity of urine and cytogenetic test aimed at the assessment of chromosomal aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes.The exposition of psoriatic patients to pharmaceutic tar significantly increased the index of mutagenity as an index of the presence of mutagen in urine, as well as the occurrence of chromosomal aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes.The results of monitoring have indicated that psoriatic patients treated by pharmaceutic tar are endangered by an increased genotoxic risk. (Tab. 2, Ref. 17.)