SPONTANEOUS AND MITOMYCIN-C-INDUCED MICRONUCLEI IN LYMPHOCYTES FROM SUBJECTS AFFECTED BY TURNERS-SYNDROME

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from 15 subjects affected by Turner's syn drome (TS) and aged between 2 and 24 years (mean age 10.40 +/- 6.25) w ere tested to evaluate the spontaneous and Mitomycin-C-induced (MMC) m icronucleus (MN) frequency. A group of 15 healthy subjects, in the sam e range of age (mean age 14.67 +/- 8.30), was also tested as control, As expected, statistically significant differences between spontaneous and MMC-induced MN were found either in TS and in healthy subjects, U nexpectedly, when the two groups of donors were compared, TS subjects showed a lower spontaneous and MMC-induced MN frequency, in comparison with healthy subjects. Cell proliferation kinetic and cytotoxicity we re also measured applying the cytokinesis-block proliferation index (C BPI): the results show that MMC, at the employed concentration, does n ot induce cell cycle delay both in healthy and in TS donors. Whereas, when CBPI from TS and healthy donors were compared, a faster prolifera tion was found in TS patients in both untreated and MMC-treated cultur es.