| Abstract: | A new in vitro test for susceptibility to induced chromosomal damage is described. It involves treating primary fibroblast cultures with a known clastogen, bleomycin. The test differs from those previously published in that it makes use of fibroblast cell lines that are also used for standard cytosystematic procedures. Preliminary results from tests carried out on Myotis lucifugus and Peromyscus leucopus are discussed. Data comparing susceptibility to induced chromosomal damage between species and between members of a species are sparce. The studies that have been done (e.g. Hsu et al., 1981; Leonard, et al., 1982) typically use lymphocyte cultures. Phytohemagglutinin stimulated cultures offer only one attempt at obtaining a usable karyotype, while virally transformed lymphoid lines rapidly undergo aneuploid changes. To avoid these problems, the test described here utilizes primary fibroblast cell lines routinely established in the lab for standard cytosystematic work. The test is in the form of an in vitro challenge test: the cells are treated with bleomycin and then harvested and checked for chromosomal aberrations. Bleomycin was chosen as the chemical clastogen (chromosomal breaking agent) since it comes closest to imitating the random chromosomal damage pattern produced by X-rays (Painter, 1982). |
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