Incidence of nickel-induced sister-chromatid exchange

Nickel is a recognized carcinogen to which the general population is being increasingly exposed. A nickel-induced alteration in the incidence of sister-chromatid exchanges in cultured lymphocytes has been investigated. Human lymphocytes from a single donor were cultured in media containing various concentrations of nickelous chloride from 10(-6) to 10(-3) M and a control culture containing no added nickel. A significantly increased incidence of exchanges over background was induced at 1.19 x 10(-4) M as indicated by a Student's t-test. A concentration/response curve was generated up to 5 x 10(-4) M where the nickel concentration was lethal to the cells. The nickel response was analyzed by a chi-square test for any variation in location of activity across the karyotype and no differences were detected. The background incidence did vary from a uniform distribution across the karyotype with increasing incidences in chromosomes 1 and 2 and those of the B group, and decreased incidences in the E, F, and G groups.