Abstract

Sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) observed by means of bromodeoxyuridine substitution and fluorescence plus Giemsa (FPG) technique were proposed as a sensitive and quantitative assay for mutagenicity and cytotoxicity in short-term cultures of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated human lymphocytes. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the relation between anticancer agents and cytotoxic effects. Chromosomal analysis was performed on metaphase cells that had divided one, two, or three or more times after treatment for SCEs, mitotic indices (MI) and cell cycle kinetics by FPG technique. The results indicate that anticancer agents led to a dose dependent increase in SCE frequency except methotrexate. But, highly inhibited mitotic indices and delayed cell cycle kinetics were observed except for cyclophosphamide. The author suggest that the difference of SCE frequency is due to the differences in the cytotoxic action of anticancer agents, but although the induction of SCEs has a correlation with cell cycle delay, in some cases the induction of SCEs is not always related to cell cycle delay because of different cytotoxic action of anticancer agents.