CHROMOSOME ANALYSIS OF HUMAN SPERMATOZOA EXPOSED TO ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS IN-VITRO

We studied in vitro the cytogenetic effects of six antineoplastic agen ts, bleomycin (BM), cyclophosphamide (CP), daunomycin (DM), methyl met hanesulfonate (MMS), mitomycin C (MMC) and triethylenemelamine (TEM) o n spermatozoa, using an interspecific in vitro fertilization system be tween zona-free hamster oocytes and human or bull spermatozoa. In prel iminary experiments with bull spermatozoa, clastogenic effects were cl early shown with BM, DM, MMS and TEM, but not with CP and MMC. In main experiments, the effects of the first four chemicals were studied in detail with human spermatozoa. Total numbers of 585 and 512 spermatozo a were karyotyped in the control and the chemical-treated groups respe ctively. The incidence of spermatozoa with structural chromosome aberr ations was 34.5%, 53.0%, 59.3%, and 55.6% in the BM (50 mu g/ml, 90 mi n), DM (0.1 mu g/ml, 90 min), MMS (100 mu g/ml, 120 min) and TEM (0.1 mu g/ml, 120 min) groups respectively, each showing a significantly hi gher incidence than the matched controls (10.1-13.5%). Breakage-type a berrations were more frequent than exchange-type aberrations in the BM , MMS and TEM groups, while the exchange-type aberrations were more fr equent in the DM group. Exchanges were mainly of the chromatid type in the DM, MMS and TEM groups, while chromosome-type exchanges occurred more frequently in the BM group. These results are discussed in relati on to previous data on chemical-induced chromosome aberrations in mamm alian somatic cells and in mouse spermatozoa.