C-mitotic effects of trichloroethylene (TCE) on bone marrow cells of mice.

The possible aneuploidy inducing activity of Trichloroethylene (TCE, CAS No. 79-01-6) an industrial chemical was investigated by employing three cytogenetic end points i.e., C-mitotic effects, Micronuclei (MN) and parallel chromosome structural aberration (CA) analysis in vivo. The experiments were conducted in mouse bone marrow cells. The animals were treated with TCE in the dose of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 mg/kg for 6, 12, 24, 48 hr. Colchicine (COL) was taken as positive control for its known aneuploidy-inducing effects and Cyclophosphamide as a model mutagen. TCE showed positive CM effects accompanied with increases of Mitotic Index and decreased frequencies of anaphases in higher doses. The chemical showed a positive MN response in bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes but was negative in CA analysis. The preliminary results indicated that TCE is capable of inducing C-mitotic effects in mouse bone marrow cells which is suggestive of its possible aneuploidy induction potential.