Analysis of bleomycin-induced chromosomal aberrations in Chinese hamster primary embryonic cells by FISH using arm-specific painting probes.
Chinese hamster primary embryonic cells (at G1 phase) were treated with 1.0 or 3.0 microg/ml bleomycin and chromosomal aberrations in first division metaphases were analysed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using arm-specific painting probes for chromosomes 3, 4, 8 and 9. We observed that bleomycin induced all classes of chromosome-type aberrations very efficiently. The interesting findings were: (i) the frequency of induced interstitial translocations (i.e. insertions) was approximately equal to that of reciprocal translocations; (ii) the frequency of induced pericentric inversions was higher than that of centric rings. In our earlier studies, we found that X-rays induced a low frequency of interstitial translocations in comparison with reciprocal translocations and equal frequencies of centric rings and pericentric inversions. These data suggest that bleomycin differs from X-rays with respect to the induction of some specific types of aberrations. The results of a chi2 test examining the hypothesis that formed aberrations among the chromosomes or chromosome arms are randomly distributed on the basis of their relative lengths revealed a differential involvement of these chromosomes in the aberrations following exposure to bleomycin. In general, chromosome 8 was found to be more involved in induced aberrations than expected, chromosome 4 was randomly involved, whereas chromosomes 3 and 9 were less involved. This study demonstrates the utility of arm-specific painting probes for efficient detection of a large variety of chromosomal aberrations induced by bleomycin.
Xiao
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MGC Department of Radiation Genetics and Chemical Mutagenesis, Leiden University Medical Centre, Wassenaarseweg 72, 2333 AL Leiden, The Netherlands.
Natarajan
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AT
D000818:Animals; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000633:toxicity*; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000633:toxicity*; D002460:Cell Line; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D020223:Chromosome Painting / Q000379:methods; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D015342:DNA Probes; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male
D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D015342:DNA Probes; D001761:Bleomycin