title: The mouse bone marrow micronucleus assay can be used to distinguish aneugens from clastogens.
abstract: The occurrence of aneuploidy can be measured in several assays. However, none of them have been sufficiently validated. The bone marrow micronucleus test may be considered as a method for aneuploidy detection. In this work, micronuclei were induced by two aneugens, vincristine sulfate (0.1 mg/kg) and nocodazole (80 mg/kg), and two clastogens ethylmethanesulfonate (EMS) (300 mg/kg) and cyclophosphamide (60 mg/kg). Three criteria have been examined in order to distinguish micronuclei induced by aneugens and clastogens: the area of the micronuclei, the percentage of micronuclei with C-band-positive material and the DNA content of the micronuclei. C-band-positive micronuclei were found in 47% of the micronuclei for vincristine sulfate, 58% for nocodazole, 17% for EMS and 20% for cyclophosphamide. Areas of micronuclei showed a significant difference when induced by aneugens or by clastogens. Finally, the DNA content of micronuclei also showed a totally different distribution pattern when comparing the aneugen vincristine sulfate with the clastogen EMS. The three methods analysed could thus all make a difference between micronuclei induced by aneugens and those induced by clastogens.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium voor Antropogenetica, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanderkerken
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vanparys
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Verschaeve
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kirsch-Volders
mesh_terms: D000782:Aneuploidy; D000818:Animals; D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000633:toxicity*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002503:Centromere / Q000032:analysis; D002871:Chromosome Banding; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000633:toxicity*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D015739:Nocodazole; D014750:Vincristine / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D001562:Benzimidazoles; D014750:Vincristine; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D004247:DNA; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate; D015739:Nocodazole