Cytogenetic investigations in prednisolone-treated infants.

Cytogenetic investigations were carried out before and after steroid treatment in 12 infants who had received 1.5 mg/kg of prednisolone daily for 4 days. No significant change in the frequency of structural aberrations and sister chromatid exchange was found. The number of satellite associations increased, which was attributed to the cell cycle delaying effect of prednisolone. A conspicuous alteration in the sequence of centromere separation was observed, as the originally non-random distribution of early divided centromeres tended to near randomness. The question is raised whether the phenomenon may be indicative of mutagenicity.