Short-term tests for transplacentally active carcinogens. A comparison of sister-chromatid exchange and the micronucleus test in mouse foetal liver erythroblasts
Cole, R.J.; Cole, J.; Henderson, L.; Taylor, N.A.; Arlett, C.F.; Regan, T.
Mutation Research 113(1): 61-75
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0027-5107 PMID: 6298615 Document Number: 210277
The effectiveness of 6 chemicals (benzo by each chemical in fetal erythroblasts after in vivo exposure was measured. When expressed as induction of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE) per erythroblast/induction of micronuclei per erythroblast (/.mu.M/kg), the ratios obtained were MC 580, BaP 470, DEN 430, CP 258, MMS 140 and PC 13. The lowest doses detected as potentially genotoxic by each test in fetal liver erythroblasts are (with the exception of PC which is a relatively ineffective inducer of SCE) similar. When isolated fetal livers were exposed in vitro, SCE dose reponses to BaP, MC, MMS and PC could be directly related to those from in vivo exposure, indicating the role of the fetal liver in metabolic activation, but CP was considerably more cytotoxic. The transplacental micronucleus test, and in vivo/in vitro method for SCE in fetal liver erythroblasts, provide sensitive, complementary assays for genotoxic effects of chemicals during prenatal life. Since fetal liver possesses greater metabolic potential than adult marrow, the transplacental tests respond to genotoxic agents not detected by bone-marrow systems.