[The mutagenic effect of thio-TEPA in laboratory mice. III. A comparison of the effect of different doses in the generative and somatic cells of male mice].

The solution of thio-TEPA was injected intraperitoneally to male mice of C57BL strain at doses of 5, 2.5; 0.32 and 0.16 mg/kg. The mutagenic effect of thio-TEPA in germ cells was investigated by means of the method of dominant lethals and compared to the cytogenetic effect in bone marrow cells. Late spermatids were the most sensitive to 5, 2.5 and 0.32 mg/kg doses. The frequency of dominant lethals induced by the 2.5 mg/kg dose in late spermatids is four times as high as that of bone marrow cells with chromosome anomalies. After the treatment with the 0.16 mg/kg dose only 1.4% gaps were recorded in bone marrow cells, while dominant lethal mutations were induced in 8--16% of spermatocytes. An assumption is made that the specific sensitivity of the stages of spermatogenesis to chemical mutagens depends not only on the characteristics of the mutagen, but on the dose used as well. The method of dominant lethals is more sensitive, than the cytogenetic analysis of chromosome lesions in bone marrow cells.