Sister chromatid exchange induction near the baseline with low doses of the alkylating agent CCNU

Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and cell-cycle kinetics were examined at near-baseline levels in human peripheral lymphocytes exposed to low doses of the potent SCE inducer 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea (CCNU), in vitro. A preliminary SCE dose-response curve was determined with a broad range of doses of CCNU using a single donor. SCE induction was approximately linear over the entire dose range from 5 to 200 microM CCNU. Cell cycle kinetics were retarded in a dose-dependent manner. A second dose-response curve from the same donor was constructed using several doses of CCNU between 0.5 and 10 microM to evaluate linearity and uniformity of SCE response near baseline levels. SCE induction was approximately linear between 1.0 and 10.0 microM CCNU. Finally, SCE and cell-cycle kinetics were examined in 12 donors at doses of 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 microM CCNU to evaluate the reproducibility of near-baseline SCE induction over a range of subjects. Cell-cycle kinetics were retarded at all three doses with a highly significant increase in SCE frequencies at 5.0 and 10.0 microM CCNU. These data suggest that increases in SCE less than twice background can be reliable indicators of genotoxic exposure.