An evaluation of the micronuclei test using triethylenemelamine, trimethylphosphate, hycanthone and niridazole

To determine the feasibility of the micronuclei procedure for cytogenetic studies, a comparatively weak chromosome breaking agent, trimethylphosphate (TMP) and the potent alkylating agent, triethylenemelamine (TEM) were evaluated. The procedure followed was that of Matter and Schmid with the following modifications: (a) direct flushing of bone marrow with 0.2 ml calf fetal serum. (b) air drying slides for a period of only I h, and (c) the use of pH 6.0 phosphate buffer to dilute both Wright and Giemsa stains. With this technique a dose response curve was generated for both TMP and TEM, using mice as the experimental animal. With TMP, a doubling over background was found when a concentration of 0.5 g/kg per day for five days was administered. To establish a statistically significant doubling dose over the control, a minimum of five animals must be used with 2000 polychromatic cells being analyzed per animal. Of the two antischistosomal agents tested, hycanthone yielded an increase of 20-fold in the number of micronuclei over control at 40 mg/kg administered i.p. for five days, while with niridazole no increase in micronuclei at several concentrations tested both by single and multiple injection was found. The results obtained with these compounds compare favorably with what has been reported for the standard in vivo metaphase analysis.