Sister chromatid exchanges and aging. III. The effect of donor age on mutagen-induced sister chromatid exchange in human diploid fibroblasts.

Although baseline levels of SCE appear to be similar in metaphase cells derived from young and old human skin fibroblast cultures, a significant decline in both MMC- and AAAF-induced sister chromatid exchanges was observed in the older cell populations. Considerable variation exists in the levels of MMC-induced SCE between individual cell cultures. However, parallel examination of several cell strains from young and old donors confirmed the decrease in mutagen-induced SCE frequencies in older cell populations.