Antimony compounds are widely used in various manufacturing and semico
nducting industries. Previously, it has been shown that antimony trich
loride (SbCl3) elevates sister chromatid exchange (SCE) rates in V79 c
ells after a 28-h incubation. However, only limited data on its genoto
xic effects are available so far. The present results demonstrate that
a 4-h exposure to > 50 mu M SbCl3 could induce micronuclei (MN) forma
tion in cultured Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells, human bronchial
epithelial (BES-6) cells and human fibroblasts (HF). The order of sen
sitivity to SbCl3 determined by Sulforhodamine B (SRB)-staining surviv
al assay is HF > BES-6 cells > CHO-K1 cells, with LD50 values in these
cells being approximate to 40, 80 and 180 mu M, respectively. Apoptos
is and DNA fragmentation was not found in cells immediately following
4-h SbCl3 treatment. However, DNA fragmentation was detected in CHO-K1
cells after 4-h SbCl3 treatment and a 16 h or more post incubation in
fresh medium by 1.5% agarose gel electrophoresis. The delayed apoptos
is was also observed under microscopic examination in HF, BES-6 and CH
O-K1 cells after similar treatment protocol. In addition, an increase
in calcium accumulation appeared in CHO-K1 cells and HF immediately af
ter a 4-h SbCl3 treatment, or after a 24-h post incubation in fresh me
dium. The present results provide important genotoxic and cytotoxic in
formation characterizing the cellular changes induced by short-term Sb
C1, exposure in rodent and human cells. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Irel
and Ltd. All rights reserved.