SLEEP-DEPRIVATION DOES NOT INDUCE SISTER-CHROMATID EXCHANGE IN HUMANS

In a preliminary study Bamezai and Kumar (1992) reported that a 24-h p eriod of sleep deprivation may raise sister chromatid exchange (SCE) f requencies up to 193% in peripheral blood lymphocytes. This was reinve stigated to clarify the role of sleep duration as a confounder for SCE , which is a well-established parameter for biomonitoring in occupatio nal medicine. In our study, the SCE baseline and the influence of a 24 -h period of sleep deprivation (test period) on SCE were investigated for 20 non-smoking volunteers (10 females and 10 males; 20-29 years of age). There was no significant difference (p(all) = 0.094) between th e deviations of the two SCE rates of the control period (mean: - 0.21 +/- 0.90 SCE) and the differences between SCE rates before and after s leep deprivation (mean: 0.42 +/- 0.94 SCE) of each proband. No signifi cant difference was detected between females and males, and SCE did no t correlate with age or sleep duration. Therefore we conclude that the influence of sleep deficit on SCE is in the range of a normal day-to- day variance, and has not to be taken into account when SCE is used fo r a genotoxic monitoring at the workplaces.