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R J Preston

Publications and source records attributed to R J Preston.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Chromosomal aberration and sister-chromatid exchange frequencies in peripheral blood lymphocytes of a large human population sample. II. Extension of age range.

We have previously reported on a cytogenetic-epidemiological study of chromosomal aberration and sister-chromatid exchange (SCE) frequencies in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of a cohort of 353 healthy employees of the Brookhaven National Laboratory (Bender et al., 1988). This sample has now been increased in order to extend the age range represented and, incidentally, the representation of non-white subjects. In total, the data now include chromosomal aberration information from 108,950 cells and SCE information from 25,397 cells from 613 samples from 493 subjects. Neither the mean frequencies of any of the chromosomal aberration types nor the mean frequency of SCE have changed notably through the addition of the new subjects and samples. The mean age at sampling of the population is now 43.1 years with a range of from 1.1 to 83.7 years. However, we still find no significant relationship of the frequency of any conventional aberration category to age with the single exception of the dicentric chromosome, which now shows a positive regression (p = 0.001). The raw mean SCE frequencies show a statistically significant increase with subject age, but when cigarette smoking status is taken into account, no significant age relationship is found. As with the earlier samples, neither aberration nor SCE frequencies was influenced by race. Mean SCE frequencies, measured in non-smokers, were about 5% higher in females than males. Only one aberration category, "supernumerary acentric fragment", was significantly related to sex. This "aberration", known to constitute early centromere separation of an X chromosome, is much more common in females than in males and, in the females, increases significantly with increasing subject age.

Adolescent↗

Analysis of mouse metaphase II oocytes as an assay for chemically induced aneuploidy.

Our initial objective was to develop an in vivo mammalian, female aneuploid assay that is consistent, time efficient, and that yields a large number of oocytes amenable to objective analyses. Subsequently, we desired to use such an assay for identifying chemicals and dosages that could increase the incidence of aneuploidy in mouse metaphase II oocytes. The experimental protocol involved superovulating CD-1 mice with PMS; HCG was given 48 h later. At the time of HCG injection, different dosages od diethylstilbestrol diphosphate, cadmium chloride, chloral hydrate, or colchicine were injected intraperitoneally. 17 h later, oocytes were collected and fixed prior to C-banding the chromosomes. The procedure required about 3 h to process oocytes from 25 mice and yielded over 100 analyzable metaphase II oocytes. Colchicine was the only compound tested that resulted in a statistically significant (P less than 0.01) increase in hyperploid (N greater than 20) oocytes over controls. The incidence of hyperploid oocytes in the colchicine group was 2/167, 1/182, 21/220, and 38/202, for control, 0.1 mg/kg, 0.2 mg/kg, and 0.3 mg/kg, respectively. This assay appears sensitive for aneuploidy detection but requires further validation.

Aneuploidy↗

The induction of chromosome aberrations by restriction endonucleases that produce blunt-end or cohesive-end double-strand breaks.

Restriction endonucleases have been used to study the involvement of specific types of DNA damages in the production of chromosome aberrations. In this study restriction endonucleases were introduced into viable CHO cells using osmolytic shock of pinocytic vesicles. We compared two cohesive-end cutters, Msp I (CCGG-2-base overlap) and Sau3A I (GATC-4-base overlap) with two blunt-end cutters, Alu I (AGCT) and Rsa I (GTAC). All 4 enzymes were effective at inducing aberrations. The 4-base overlap cohesive-end cutter Sau3A I was approximately as effective as the blunt-end cutter Alu I. We present evidence that cutting frequency rather than cut end-structure is important in determining efficiency of aberration induction. There is over-dispersion of the distribution of dicentrics and rings among cells, and the data could be fitted to a Neyman Type A distribution, a modified Poisson, that indicates that there is a probability distribution both for the entry of the enzyme into a cell nucleus and for the induction of aberrations once the enzyme has entered a cell nucleus. In addition, we used Alu I to determine the sensitivity of cells to aberration induction in the different stages of the cell cycle. Alu I induced aberrations in all stages of the cycle, chromatid-type in S/G2 and chromosome-type in G1. In agreement with data of others, there were variations in sensitivity with cycle stage, and changes in the proportions of the different aberration classes for chromatid-type aberrations.

Animals↗

Current status of cytogenetic procedures to detect and quantify previous exposures to radiation.

The estimation of the magnitude of a dose of ionizing radiation to which an individual has been exposed (or of the plausibility of an alleged exposure) from chromosomal aberration frequencies determined in peripheral blood lymphocyte cultures is a well-established methodology, having first been employed over 25 years ago. The cytogenetics working group has reviewed the accumulated data and the possible applicability of the technique to the determination of radiation doses to which American veterans might have been exposed as participants in nuclear weapons tests in the continental U.S.A. or the Pacific Atolls during the late 1940s and 1950s or as members of the Occupation Forces entering Hiroshima or Nagasaki shortly after the nuclear detonations there. The working group believes that with prompt peripheral blood sampling, external doses to individuals of the order of about 10 rad (or less if the exposure was to high-LET radiation) can accurately be detected and measured. It also believes that exposures of populations to doses of the order of maximum permissible occupational exposures can also be detected (but only in populations; not in an individual). Large exposures of populations can also be detected even several decades after their exposure, but only in the case of populations, and of large doses (of the order of 100 to several hundred rad). The working group does not believe that cytogenetic measurements can detect internal doses from fallout radionuclides in individuals unless these are very large. The working group has approached the problem of detection of small doses (less than or equal to 10 or so rad) sampled decades after the exposure of individuals by using a Bayesian statistical approach. Only a preliminary evaluation of this approach was possible, but it is clear that it could provide a formal statement of the likelihood that any given observation of a particular number of chromosomal aberrations in a sample of any particular number of lymphocytes actually indicates an exposure to any given dose of radiation. It is also clear that aberration frequencies (and consequently doses) would have to be quite high before much confidence could be given to either exposure or dose estimation by this method, given the approximately 3 decades of elapsed time between the exposures and any future blood sampling.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Abnormalities, Radiation-Induced↗

Chromosomal aberration and sister-chromatid exchange frequencies in peripheral blood lymphocytes of a large human population sample.

In order to assess the potential of cytogenetic determinations on peripheral blood lymphocytes as a means of monitoring human populations subject to low level occupational and environmental exposures to chemical mutagens and carcinogens, accurate baseline data are required. Accordingly, we have determined mean frequencies of chromosomal aberrations and of sister-chromatid exchanges, their variances, and the sources of this variance in a cohort of 353 healthy employees of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. A detailed protocol was adopted for blood sampling, lymphocyte culture, cytogenetic preparation and scoring in order to minimize variation from these potential sources. Scoring was divided between the Oak Ridge and the Brookhaven groups with duplicate scoring sufficient to evaluate and minimize the effect of any differences between laboratories or between individual scorers. In all, the data include 71,950 cells scored for chromosomal aberrations and 16,898 cells scored for sister-chromatid exchanges. The mean unadjusted frequency of sister-chromatid exchanges was 8.29 +/- 0.08/cell. As reported in other studies, cigarette smoking very significantly influenced sister-chromatid exchange frequencies; in our study the mean for smokers was 9.0 +/- 0.2, while that for non-smokers was 8.1 +/- 0.1/cell. The mean frequency was statistically higher in females than in males, regardless of smoking status. On the other hand, age of the subject did not significantly influence sister-chromatid exchange frequencies. Curiously, the subject's total white cell count did influence sister-chromatid exchange frequency. No other source of variation was found. The frequencies of chromosomal aberrations of all types were determined. The frequency of the most common unequivocal chromatid type, the chromatid deletion, was 0.81 +/- 0.05%, that of the most common unequivocal chromosome type, the dicentric, was 0.16 +/- 0.02%. No statistically significant influence was found of age or sex, nor of any other parameter tested, on the frequency of any chromosomal aberration type, with the single exception of long acentric fragments, often "supernumerary", believed to represent X chromosomes precociously separated at the centromere. Such fragments were significantly more frequent in samples from females than those from males, and showed a significant positive regression on age.

Aneuploidy↗

Myeloid leukemia in male RFM mice following irradiation with fission spectrum neutrons or gamma rays.

The induction of myeloid leukemia following fission neutron irradiation was examined over the 0-80 rad dose range. Over this dose range the dose response could be described by the linear regression equation: y = 0.94 + 0.18X. A comparison of these data with data obtained following gamma irradiation from this study and a previous study indicated that the relative biological effectiveness for myeloid leukemia induction was 2.8. These results appear to be compatible with those reported by other investigators.

Animals↗

DNA-repair kinetics and the sensitivity of cells to X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations: a mouse myeloid leukemia cell line and normal mouse bone marrow cells.

The frequency of X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations in G1 ML-1 mouse myeloid leukemia cells and normal mouse bone marrow cells increased with post-irradiation incubation with the DNA-repair resynthesis inhibitor 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (araC), but the frequency of aberrations in the leukemic cells increased with quite a different time response compared to the normal cells. Irradiated normal mouse bone marrow cells had a rapid increase in the frequency of chromosome exchanges and deletions with increasing araC incubation time, for example, an increase was observed with 0.5 h araC incubation. In contrast, the ML-1 cells did not have a significant increase in aberrations until 1-2 h post-irradiation incubation with araC. These results suggest that the ML-1 cells, per unit time, initially undergo less repair of the X-ray-induced DNA damage that can be converted into chromosome aberrations. We previously showed that the ML-1 cells have a higher frequency of X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations compared to normal cells and the results presented here indicate that a slower rate of repair resynthesis is contributing to the increased sensitivity of the ML-1 cells.

Animals↗

Dominant lethal effects of subchronic acrylamide administration in the male Long-Evans rat.

Acrylamide, a widely used vinyl monomer, is well known as a neurotoxin but inactive as a mutagen in bacterial test systems. The experiments reported demonstrate that after subchronic oral dosing in the male rat, acrylamide induced significant elevations in both pre- and post-implantation loss following dominant lethal testing. These effects were seen at doses which failed to produce clinical or pathological evidence of neurotoxicity. In an accompanying cytogenetic study, no increase in chromosome aberrations was observed in spermatogonia or spermatocytes of treated animals. When spermatocytes from treated spermatogonial stem cells were analyzed, reciprocal translocations (4) were observed in the treated animals and not in the control, but the significance of this result still needs to be established.

Acrylamide↗

Differential sensitivity of a mouse myeloid leukemia cell line and normal mouse bone marrow cells to X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations.

Cell line ML-1 was established from a myelogenous leukemia of an RFM mouse. The ML-1 cells and in vitro normal mouse bone marrow cells were analyzed to determine if there was a differential sensitivity to X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations in G1 cells and/or differences in postirradiation cell cycle progression. Cells identified as being in G1 at the time of irradiation by their staining pattern after replication in 5-bromodeoxyuridine were analyzed for all types of chromosomal aberrations following X-ray doses of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 Gy. ML-1 cells showed a greater sensitivity to the induction of both chromosome-type aberrations (dicentrics and terminal deletions) and chromatid-type aberrations (exchanges and deletions) compared to normal mouse bone marrow cells, which only contained chromosome-type aberrations. The presence of chromatid-type aberrations in the ML-1 cells and not normal bone marrow cells suggested a differential progression through the cell cycle for the two cell types after irradiation. Mitotic index and flow cytometric analyses were performed and showed that both cell types have a delay in progression from G2 into mitosis, but only the normal mouse bone marrow cells have a delay in progression from G1 into S, as well as delayed progression through the S phase following X-irradiation. These results indicate that the ML-1 leukemia cells have an increased radiosensitivity. This may be due to a defect in their ability to respond to DNA damage as evidenced by their lack of a G1- and S-phase delay which allows normal cells an increased time to repair DNA damage before replication. These same characteristics have been observed in ataxia telangiectasia cells and may well represent a general feature of cells with increased radiosensitivity.

Animals↗

Cytogenetic findings in persons living near the Love Canal.

Cytogenetic analyses were performed on peripheral blood from 46 present or past residents of the area surrounding Love Canal, a former dump site for chemical wastes in Niagara Falls, NY. Participants included 17 persons in whom cytogenetic analyses had been performed in 1980 and 29 persons who had been living in 1978 in seven homes that directly adjoined the canal and in which environmental tests showed elevated levels of chemicals spreading from the canal. Frequencies of chromosomal aberrations and of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) did not differ significantly from control levels. For all participants, cigarette smoking was associated with an increase in sister chromatid exchange frequency.

Chromosome Aberrations↗

Induction of chromosome aberrations and specific locus mutation but not sister chromatid exchanges in Chinese hamster ovary cells by neocarzinostatin.

The induction of chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), cytotoxicity, and 6-thioguanine-resistant mutation by neocarzinostatin (NCS) in Chinese hamster ovary cells was analyzed. It was observed that within the same concentration range of 0.01-0.1 mu/ml NCS, the drug induced a significant increase in all analyzed end-points except in SCE frequencies. There was no increase in SCE frequencies even when the cells were treated at the G1/S border in the first cell cycle and when aberrations were observed in the same cell showing a second cycle differential staining pattern. Our study indicates that the cellular damage induced by NCS leads to expression in chromosome aberrations, cytotoxicity, and mutagenicity but not in sister chromatid exchanges.

Animals↗

The replication of unsubstituted and 5-bromodeoxyuridine- or 5-chlorodeoxyuridine-substituted DNA regulates the rate of induction of sister chromatid exchanges.

The thymidine (dThd) analog 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd) is widely used in studies of the induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), since growth in the presence of BrdUrd allows the subsequent differential staining of the chromosomes through the fluorescence-plus-Giemsa (FPG) method. However, the analog itself induces SCEs, an aspect of its use which is often not considered. We have studied the induction of SCE by BrdUrd and a second dThd analog 5-chlorodeoxyuridine (CldUrd). Growth of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells for 2 rounds of replication in the presence of different concentrations of either analog results in increasing results in increasing SCE frequencies which are linearly proportional to the degree of analog substitution for dThd in the DNA. However, CldUrd causes 3 to 5 times the number of SCEs found with BrdUrd, at equivalent substitution for dThd. With both analogs the increase in SCE frequency is due to the replication of the analog-substituted DNA and not to the incorporation of analog into nascent DNA. This induction of SCE can be considered at the level of a single strand of DNA since the replication of bifilarly substituted DNA results in twice the number of SCEs that are induced by the replication of unifilarly substituted DNA.

Animals↗

Retrograde impulse activity and horseradish peroxidase tracing of nerve fibers entering neuroma studied in vitro.

Neuroma formation was induced in rat sciatic nerve by tight ligature. At various times after placement of the ligature, the nerves were excised, desheathed, split longitudinally proximal to the neuroma, and studied in vitro in a nerve chamber. Stimulation of one of the arbitrarily formed proximal branches was found to generate impulse activity in the other branch. Since similar branch to branch activation did not occur in control preparations, it appeared that some form of axon to axon interaction occurred within the neuroma, or alternatively that retrograde regeneration allowed continuity of nerve fibers in proximal divisions of the nerve trunk. Attempts at morphological demonstration of the continuity alternative were made by applying horseradish peroxidase to cut fibers of one proximal division. Although labeled axons did turn retrogradely within the neuroma, they were not found to enter the other nerve division.

Animals↗

Love canal.

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Chromosome Aberrations↗

Effects of 4-aminopyridine on rapidly and slowly conducting axons of rat corpus callosum.

The action potentials of some normal mammalian peripheral myelinated and non-myelinated nerve fibers are known to differ with respect to the role of voltage-dependent potassium currents in membrane repolarization. Because comparable differences have not been fully established for mammalian cerebral axons, the present work examined the influence of the potassium blocker, 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), on field potentials in the rat corpus callosum. Three successive negative waves could be detected in field potentials obtained with recording electrodes positioned several millimeters from the site of callosal stimulation. Spatial and functional properties of these field components indicated that the two shorter-latency waves were due to activity in callosal fibers. Furthermore, the discontinuity of the first and second waves, not only with respect to latency but also in pattern of recruitment and in refractoriness, suggested that they largely reflected activity in respective myelinated and nonmyelinated groups of callosal fibers. When 4-AP was injected into the callosum, or superfused onto surgically exposed callosal fibers, the duration and amplitude of the second negative wave were markedly increased. The first negative wave either was not affected or was reduced in amplitude by 4-AP application. This contrasting effect was identical to that known to distinguish normal myelinated and nonmyelinated mammalian peripheral nerve fibers and provided some evidence suggesting that mammalian cerebral axons have a functional organization similar to that of peripheral fibers.

4-Aminopyridine↗

Sister-chromatid exchanges and gene mutations are induced by the replication of 5-bromo- and 5-chloro-deoxyuridine substituted DNA.

The thymidine (dT) analogue 5-chlorodeoxyuridine (CldU) induces 7-8-fold more sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE) than does 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) at equal substitution for dT in Chinese hamster ovary cells in culture. This difference facilitates study of the mechanism of induction of SCE by these analogues. Cultures were incubated with either BrdU or CldU for one cell cycle, followed by incubation in the presence of dT alone or BrdU or CldU for the second cell cycle and the SCE frequency determined in M2 cells. The results suggest that the induction of SCE is dependent only on the replication of the analogue-substituted DNA during the second cell cycle. Additional studies employed cultures grown in the presence of BrdU or CldU for 7 days to obtain mainly bifilarly substituted DNA, followed by 2 rounds of replication in the presence of dT alone. The SCE frequencies were approximately twice those found in cultures which had undergone the usual 2 rounds in the presence of the analogue; this is consistent with the replication of twice the amount of analogue-substituted DNA. Furthermore, such long-term growth in the presence of BrdU or CldU also results in concentration-dependent increases in the frequency of 6-thioguanine-resistant mutants, suggesting that gene mutations also result from the replication of analogue-substituted DNA.

Animals↗