Increase of sister chromatid exchange and unscheduled synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid by acrylonitrile in human lymphocytes in vitro.

Abstract

The investigation has been carried out on cultures grown in the presence of 5 x 10(-1) - 5 x 10(-5) M acrylonitrile with or without a rat liver metabolizing system (S-9 mix). The results obtained showed that acrylonitrile was toxic starting from the 5 x 10(-3) M concentration, caused a significant increase in the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency in comparison with the controls (p less than or equal to 0.001) when the concentration was 5 x 10(-4) M, and elicited reparative deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis, determined by tritiated thymidine uptake, particularly when the concentration was 5 x 10(-1) M. These effects were observed in lymphocytes of different donors and after drug activation by the S-9 mix metabolizing system.