[Evaluation of the mutagenic properties of mitomycin C by the sister chromatid exchange test in human blood lymphocytes in vitro].

By means of the test of sister chromatid exchanges the SCE rate induced by 6 mitomycin C (MMC) doses was evaluated in lymphocytes of human blood collected from two donors and cultured in vitro for 72 hours in the presence of BrdU. A clear curvilinear dose-response relationship was found. The rate of changes of 4.1 cell in control cultures, after the 0.1 micrograms/ml dose, came to the mean value of 68.0/cell. The findings were consistent with those of other authors. In addition, the consistence of the results obtained for the two donors and minimum, variability between the cultures for the same dose indicate the method is reproducible and may be used to test chemical compounds of unknown mutagenicity.