Cytogenetic findings in pernicious anaemia. Comparison between results obtained with chromosome studies and the micronucleus test.

To elucidate whether the micronucleus test may be a sensitive test for the demonstration of the occurrence of spontaneous structural chromosomal aberrations in human disease, bone-marrow smears and chromosome preparations were studied from ten patients with pernicious anaemia. An increased incidence of metaphases with structural chromosomal aberrations was seen in three of the patients, whereas an increased number of bone-marrow cells containing micro-nuclei was present in eight of the ten patients. The micronucleus test may thus be a rapid and sensitive test to demonstrate whether spontaneous structural aberrations of the chromosomes are present in a group of patients suffering from various diseases.