[The clastogenic effect of halothane on the lymphocytes from patients operated on under halothane anesthesia]

The clastogenic effect of halothane anesthesia on peripheral blood lymphocytes from operated patients was studied. Chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatic exchanges in lymphocyte cultures of 7 patients were analyzed. Blood samples were obtained before the operative intervention, immediately after the effect of anesthesia was over and 24 hours later. To differentiate sister chromatids in the culture medium, on the 24th cultivation hour bromodeoxyuridine in final concentration 10 micrograms/ml was added. Increased incidence of structural chromosomal aberrations was recorded in lymphocyte cultures of patients after anesthesia--6.43 per cent cells with aberrations in the first post-halothane culture and 8.28 per cent in the second. Comparison of the cell affection index with the total number of affected cells revealed a continuous clastogenic effect pattern within the study period. Reliable evidence for induction of sister chromatid exchanges after the anesthesia was not found. The results were debated in the light of the possible mechanisms of clastogenicity of halothane anesthesia, the initial state of the patients and the consequences for them.