Induction of aneuploidy by mitotic arrestants in mouse bone marrow

Most human and animal carcinogens induce gene mutation, chromosome breakage or other types of DNA lesions. However, recent studies indicate that some carcinogens do not directly damage DNA, but may cause missegregation of chromosomes resulting in aneuploidy production. Aneuploidy-producing agents pose serious genetic hazards to the human population. Such agents may cause genomic imbalance not only in somatic cells which may result in cancer development, but also in germinal cells which may result in the production of abnormal offspring (e.g. Down's syndrome). To limit human exposure to potential aneuploidy-producing agents, such agents must first be identified in experimental animals. The present study demonstrates that vinblastine and colcemid are capable of inducing aneuploidy in bone marrow cells of treated mice. Both of these compounds are chemotherapeutic agents that arrest mitosis by interfering with the formation of spindle microtubules. Single intraperitoneal injections of vinblastine, at a dose of 9 mg/kg, were found to produce 1.5-5.2% of hyperdiploidy in all of the 10 treated mice sampled at 17-96 h after injection. Only the frequency of hyperdiploidy was determined because hypodiploid cells could result from artifactual chromosome loss during slide preparation. At 0.9 mg/kg, vinblastine was found to produce 0.5-3.5% of hyperdiploidy in 8 of the 10 treated animals. The frequency of hyperdiploid cells in animals treated with colcemid was low. A dose as high as 37 mg/kg was found to produce only 0.5-1% of hyperdiploidy in 3 of the 10 treated animals, and hyperdiploidy was observed only in animals sampled at 17-24 h. In 10 mice treated with saline alone, no hyperdiploid cells were observed. Unlike cell cultures where vinblastine and colcemid had been shown to be equally effective in producing aneuploidy, vinblastine was found in this study to be a much more potent aneuploidy inducer than colcemid in mice.