Ad. Kligerman et al., ANALYSES OF CYTOGENETIC DAMAGE IN RODENTS FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO SIMULATED GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATED WITH PESTICIDES AND A FERTILIZER, MUTATION RESEARCH, 300(2), 1993, pp. 125-134
Male Fischer 344 rats and female B6C3F1 mice were each exposed through
their drinking water to a mixture of pesticides and ammonium nitrate
that simulated contaminated groundwater in California (California Chem
ical Mixture [CCM]). Exposures were for 71 or 91 days, respectively. I
n addition, B6C3F1 female mice were exposed for 91 days to another pes
ticide and ammonium nitrate mixture (Iowa Chemical Mixture [ICM]) thro
ugh their drinking water. The spleens were removed from the animals, a
nd the splenocytes were cultured for analyses of sister-chromatid exch
ange (SCE), chromosome aberrations (CA), and micronuclei (MN) in cytoc
halasin B-induced binucleate cells. A concentration-related increase i
n SCEs was found in the splenocytes of the rat at the 1 x , 10 x and 1
00 x levels of the CCM and at the 100 x concentration of the CCM in th
e mouse. There were no other consistent cytogenetic effects observed w
ith the CCM, and no statistically significant cytogenetic damage was o
bserved in mice exposed to the ICM. Evidence from the literature is di
scussed in order to infer which chemical or chemicals in the CCM might
be responsible for the observed SCE response.