[Viscosimetric evaluation of DNA fragmentation induced in vivo by alkylating agents].

A sensitive viscosimetric approach for measuring DNA single-strand breaks induced by low doses of alkylating agents is presented. The assay is based on the breaks-induced increasing rate of strand separation of rat liver DNA in alkaline solution (pH 12,5; 22 C). Because of the strong dependence of viscosity on DNA unwinding, measurement of time-course of viscosity increase can be used to detect small breakage of DNA. The kinetics of DNA denaturation has been also studied under two different alkaline conditions.