Abstract: Objective To study the damage of DNA in lymphocytes ,brain cells and cardiac muscle cells of rats induced by different dose of tetramine and to speculate the toxicant mechanism of tetramine. Methods The rat were poisoned by Tetramine, which was taken in by mouth. The rat poisoning models were used by 0.2,0.1,0.05,0.01mg·kg-1 Tetramine, and comparison model was made by NS. Lymphocytes and brain cells and cardiac muscle cells of rats were separatd and collected form experimentation rat. DNA damages of cells which were exposed to different doses of tetramine were detected using the single cell gel electrophorresis (SCGE) or comet assay. Results DNA damages have been observed in lymphocytes ,brain cells and cardiac muscle cells of rats which exposed form 0.01mg·kg-1 doses of tetramine to 0.2mg·kg-1 doses of tetramine. The test groups are very significantly statistical different to the control group (P<0.01). Conclusion It is assumed that DNA damages of cells might be one of the toxicant mechanism of tetramine.

Key words: tetramine, DNA damage of cell, single cell gel electrophorresis(SCGE), comet assay