Increased frequency of acrocentric chromosome association during colcemid treatment.

The effect of Colcemid on satellite association frequencies was investigated in human cell lines U-937 GTB, SC-N-MC, HL-60, and Raji by silver staining method. Cell cultures were exposed to Colcemid at a concentration of 0.02 mg/ml for 15-60 minutes. As exposure time to Colcemid was increased, both the frequency of cells with satellite associations and the number of chromosomes involved in satellite associations increased significantly. Furthermore, the mean number of silver-stained chromosomes decreased with longer exposure time. Without Colcemid, we were able to obtain an adequate number of good-quality metaphase spreads. The data obtained may be of help in furthering research concerning satellite associations and in obtaining better quality chromosome preparations.