A collaborative cytogenetics study to measure and minimize interlaboratory variation

Six cytogenetics laboratories joined in a collaborative study of rat chromosome aberrations to measure interlaboratory variation in results of standardized procedures and to devise methods to minimize interlaboratory differences. A preliminary workshop was held to resolve scoring differences, to develop a joint protocol and common glossary, and to reach agreement on uniform reporting methods. Osborne-Mendel rats from a common source were sent to each laboratory. Triethylenemelamine (TEM) was used at doses of 100, 200, 300 and 400 microgram/kg to induce clastogenic effects; results were compared to those of a control group of untreated animals. Femoral bone marrow cells were evaluated with the scorers unaware of the dosage. Final results showed highly significant dose effects with the test compound, and most laboratories showed a similar pattern of dose response. This study illustrates that rat cytogenetic analysis can be an effective test system for evaluation of a compound for mutagenic potential, particularly for the index reflecting the proportion of abnormal cells, but that results should be interpreted cautiously when arbitrary values are assigned for some of the categories being analyzed, as was done in this project for the category of severely damaged cells.