Induction of mitotic- and meiotic-chromosome anomalies in mice and onion by distillery effluents.

A 2% dilution of distillery effluent not only inhibited mitosis but also induced a 10-fold increase in the frequency of chromosome abnormalities in onion root-tip cells. Polyploidy and disturbances in cytokinesis were also observed. A 1% dilution of the effluent, when administered orally at 0.5 ml per day per mouse, induced a 12-fold increase in chromosome abnormalities among bone marrow cells. The latter included both gross and individual types of damage. In the primary spermatocytes, the effluent induced a 14-fold increase in abnormalities among which X-Y univalents, polyploidy and translocation were most common.