[Investigations on the mutagenic and clastogenic activity of resorcin / Cytogenetic findings from different types of human cells (author's transl)].

The suspected clastogenic effect of m-dihydroxybenzene (resorcin), a phenol derivate, was investigated by analyzing 3 different types of human cells. 1. Lymphocyte cultures from blood of healthy blood donors with normal karyotype (46,XY). 2. Lymphocyte cultures from patients with a proved chromosome abnormality (trisomy 21, karyotype: 47, +21). 3. Cultures of amniotic cells with normal karyotype (46, XX and 46, XY). In all three cell systems resorcin induces secondary chromosome aberrations. The amount of cells with aberrations increases with the concentration of the substance and duration of action. The three cell systems tested showed a different sensitivity to resorcin. Lymphocytes with trisomy 21 were more sensitive than the same cell type with a normal karyotype. Both types of lymphocytes were less sensitive to resorcin than amniotic cells. The types of structural chromosome aberrations observed in these investigations as well as the concentration of the test substance, which had to be added to induce a clastogenic effect, demonstrated that resorcin has to be regarded as a weak mutagenic substance.