AQUATIC GENOTOXICITY TESTING WITH RAT HEPATOCYTES IN PRIMARY CULTURE .1. SCE INDUCTION

Primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes were tested for their suitab ility to assess the genotoxic potential of effluent water samples by m eans of sister chromatid exchange induction. The results obtained with a variety of industrial effluents indicate a high sensitivity of this system since significantly elevated levels of SCE could be demonstrat ed in the undiluted sample and dilutions down to concentrations of 0.0 1%. However, the results also showed that the sole examination of an u ndiluted sample can lead to misinterpretations due to the shape of the dose response curves; in the worst case no genotoxic effect will be f ound although the sample has both toxic and genotoxic activity. Theref ore, to assess the potential genotoxicity, it will be necessary to det ermine SCE induction with several dilutions of the effluents under inv estigation.