Pk. Dhar et al., Application of FISH-MN technique to probe micronuclei formation in normal,transformed and malignant cells using alpha satellite pan centromeric DNA, CURRENT SCI, 78(10), 2000, pp. 1247-1249
A micronucleus assay employing biotinylated alpha pan centromeric DNA probe
was used in the present study. The study sample consisted of 4 normal, 2 t
ransformed and 9 malignant cell lines of human origin. The frequency of cen
tromere positive micronuclei (c + MN) was found to decrease from normal (67
%) to transformed (63.9%) to cancer cells (59%). The c + MN/c-MN ratio from
normal to malignant cells was found to vary significantly (P < 0.01), whil
e the signal ratio showed absence of any correlation (P > 0.05). These resu
lts demonstrate the usefulness of combining FISH technique and micronuclei
assay to trace the mechanism of micronucleus formation in cells of diverse
histopathological origin.