title: Chromosome fragility in river buffalo cows exposed to dioxins.
abstract: Fifty river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis, 2n = 50) cows reared in two different provinces of Campania (southern Italy) underwent cytogenetic investigations to ascertain possible differences in their chromosome stability. One group (Caserta province) was under legal sequestration due to the presence in the milk mass of higher mean values of dioxins [21.79 pg/g of fat as sum of polychloro-dibenzo-dioxins (PCDDs), polychloro-dibenzo-furans (PCDFs) and dioxin-like polychlorobiphenyls (DL-PCBs)] than both those permitted (6.0 pg/g of fat as WHO-TEQ) and those (1.3 pg/g of fat as WHO-TEQ) observed in the control group raised in Salerno province. Two types of peripheral blood cell cultures were performed: without (normal cultures for the chromosome abnormality (CA) test: chromatid breaks, chromosome breaks, fragments) and with the addition of BrdU for the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) test). The CA test revealed a significantly (P < 0.01) higher chromosome fragility in the exposed cows compared to the control. Indeed, mean values of CA/cell were 1.26 ± 1.15 in exposed cows and 0.37 ± 0.71 in the control. Mean SCE was higher in exposed cows (8.50 ± 3.35) than that (8.29 ± 3.51) found in the control but the difference was not significant. Comparison within the same group of cows at first (FL) and multiple (ML) lactations revealed significantly (P < 0.01) higher mean values of CA/cell in exposed ML-cows vs FL-cows while no statistical differences were found between ML-cows and FL-cows in the control farm. By contrast, significantly (P < 0.01) higher mean values of SCE were found in both groups of FL-cows versus ML-cows. Comparisons with other previous studied species (sheep and cattle) were also performed.
authors.affiliation: National Research Council (CNR), ISPAAM, Laboratory of Animal Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Genualdo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perucatti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iannuzzi
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Di Meo
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Spagnuolo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caputi-Jambrenghi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coletta
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vonghia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Iannuzzi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine; D002020:Buffaloes / Q000235:genetics*; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations / Q000187:drug effects*; D002873:Chromosome Fragility / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D004147:Dioxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D005260:Female; D007558:Italy; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D034561:Sheep, Domestic / Q000235:genetics; D012854:Sister Chromatid Exchange / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine