CYTOGENETIC EFFECTS INDUCED BY EXTREMELY-LOW-FREQUENCY PULSED MAGNETIC-FIELDS IN LYMPHOCYTES FROM TURNERS-SYNDROME SUBJECTS

The cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay was applied to evaluate the g enotoxic effect of in vitro exposure to extremely low frequency pulsed magnetic fields on peripheral blood lymphocytes from 10 subjects aged between 3 and 24 years and affected by Turner's syndrome, in comparis on with 8 healthy donors aged between 3 and 22 years. We report a sign ificant(p < 0.01) micronucleus frequency increase in lymphocyte cultur es from Turner's syndrome patients after 72 h exposure to pulsed magne tic fields with respect to unexposed cultures obtained from blood of t he same subject. Such an increase of micronucleus frequency after expo sure to pulsed magnetic fields was not observed in the control group, in accordance with our previous data in a large cohort of healthy subj ects of different ages. The cytokinesis-block proliferation index was also evaluated both in cultures from Turner's syndrome patients and fr om healthy donors and resulted slightly higher in the exposed cultures , for both groups, even if the increase was not statistically signific ant. The relevance of these results for the studies on the biological effects of pulsed magnetic fields and for the related possible genotox ic risk in subgroups of human subjects characterised by particular gen etic or pathological status is discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S. A.