Proliferative kinetics and chromosome damage in trisomy 21 lymphocyte cultures exposed to gamma-rays and bleomycin

Lymphocytes from patients with Down's syndrome (trisomy 21) have been investigated for cell cycle kinetics, cell proliferation delays, and chromosomal aberrations after exposure to gamma-rays or bleomycin. Analysis by sister chromatid differential staining revealed that trisomy 21 lymphocytes started cell cycling about 5 hr earlier than did normal diploid lymphocytes after phytohemagglutinin stimulation as a whole, but that cycling trisomic and normal cells had the same mean cell cycle times. When exposed to gamma-rays or bleomycin in G0, trisomy 21 lymphocytes showed a 30% or, on average, 50% longer duration of cell turnover times, respectively, than normal cells; only bleomycin-treated trisomic cells had a biphasic dose-response. Frequencies of dicentrics and rings in first-division cells after gamma-ray or bleomycin exposure were twice as high in trisomic cells as in normal cells. The frequency of aberrations decreased by 50% (gamma-ray-exposed) or 65 to 85% (bleomycin-treated) through successive divisions; trisomic cells showed a more marked decline in aberration yields compared to normal cells after bleomycin treatment. These data support the idea that circulating lymphocytes in trisomy 21 patients have a shorter average life span or a younger average age.