title: Synaptonemal complex damage as a measure of chemical mutagen effects on mammalian germ cells.
abstract: As heritable chromosome anomalies are implicated in a variety of human disabilities, their induction in germ cells by environmental chemicals is viewed as a threat to health (National Research Council, 1982; Hook, 1983). Synaptonemal complex (SC) analysis is a novel approach for the detection of germ-line chromosomal damage. This sensitive cytological procedure reveals induced structural damage and pairing abnormalities in SCs of meiotic prophase chromosomes, together with other germ-line toxic effects, in the testes of rodents treated with mitomycin C and cyclophosphamide. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of SC analysis as a rapid and practical in vivo germ-line mutagen assay that lacks many of the short-comings of existing tests.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016685:Mitomycin; D008937:Mitomycins / Q000633:toxicity*; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens; D013090:Spermatocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013573:Synaptonemal Complex / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D008937:Mitomycins; D009153:Mutagens; D016685:Mitomycin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide