ENHANCEMENT OF SCE FREQUENCY BY ALPHA-NAPHTHOFLAVONE IN CULTURED LYMPHOCYTES IN RELATION TO ENVIRONMENTAL-FACTORS

One hundred and nine healthy subjects living in an urban area of Tusca ny were monitored using sister chromatid exchange (SCE) analysis on ly mphocytes cultured in standard or alpha-naphthoflavone (ANF)-supplemen ted medium in order to collect the most complete data possible for tho se constitutional and environmental factors with which genotoxic risk can be associated. ANF genotoxicity depends on its metabolic activatio n by cellular P-450 monooxygenase systems whose activity can be modula ted by exposure to carcinogenic but nongenotoxic xenobiotics. Lymphocy tes grown in standard conditions showed a significant increase of SCE frequency associated with smoking habits and age. Although the additio n of ANF caused an upward shift of SCE frequency in all subjects, smok ers, coffee drinkers, and blue-collar workers showed a significantly h igher SCE level; this suggests that potential risk factors rising from a modified cell metabolism are present in these categories. These res ults indicate that in vitro ANF treatment of lymphocytes could be a us eful tool in the detection of environmental exposure to those classes of chemicals involved in metabolic activation of promutagens. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.