Abstract
SPERMATOGONIA, as stem cells of male gametes1,2, constitute a highly relevant system for studying the genetic hazards of potential mutagens. Gross chromosome aberrations in spermatogonia have been used as a gauge of the genetic damage induced in animals exposed to agents such as mitomycin C (refs 3–5). Sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) formed in response to DNA damage constitute even more sensitive indices of the impact of alkylating agents and other clastogens on chromosomes6–8. Analysis of SCE induction in cultured cells has been greatly facilitated by techniques in which substitution of DNA with the base analogue 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) is detected either with fluorescent dyes9,10 or by modified Giemsa procedures11–13. This approach has so far been limited to in vitro trials, with the exception of one system14 in which SCEs were visualised in chromosomes of chick embryos after exposure to BUdR in ovo. We report here a BUdR technique which enables the detection of SCEs formed in spermatogonial cells of intact mice. As a prototype of a general in vivo mutagenesis test, this procedure has been utilised to demonstrate a several-fold increase in the sister chromatid exchange frequency in mouse spermatogonia after injection of the animals with small amounts of mitomycin C.
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ALLEN, J., LATT, S. Analysis of sister chromatid exchange formation in vivo in mouse spermatogonia as a new test system for environmental mutagens. Nature 260, 449–451 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260449a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/260449a0
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