RELIABILITY OF FINGER STICK CAPILLARY BLOOD FOR THE LYMPHOCYTE MICRONUCLEUS ASSAY

Compared with peripheral blood sampling, capillary blood collecting by finger stick is less traumatic and more convenient, To assess the sen sitivity and reliability of capillary blood for the lymphocyte micronu cleus (MN) assay, this study was performed in three sample groups, i,e . healthy donors (n = 3), cancer patients before treatment (n = 7), an d cancer patients who were undergoing fractionated partial-body radiot herapy (n = 9), For each group, we measured three intra-individual var iables, i,e, micronucleus (MN) frequency, binucleate (BN) index, and m icronucleated BN index of lymphocytes obtained from capillary blood an d the corresponding peripheral blood, Our results indicated that in al l three sample groups, the differences in these variables between capi llary blood and peripheral blood either before or after ex vivo Cs-137 irradiation (2 Gy) were insignificant, Since capillary blood is more accessible than peripheral blood, we believe that it is a reliable sou rce for the lymphocyte MN assay especially when venipuncture is not co nvenient.