Acrocentric chromosome frequency in spontaneous human lymphocyte micronuclei, evaluated by dual-colour hybridization, is neither sex- nor age-related.

The aim of the present paper was to assess the occurrence of acrocentric chromosomes in spontaneous micronuclei (MN) of lymphocytes of 20 subjects (10 males and 10 females) of different ages by means of dual-colour hybridization with pancentromeric and acrocentric-specific DNA probes on the binucleate cells of each subject. MN were found to contain acrocentric chromosome(s) at an average frequency of 26.8%, as compared to a 60% frequency of centromere-positive MN (C + MN). As expected, the percentage of total C + MN increased significantly with increasing age both of all subjects (r = 0.695, p < 0.001) and women (r = 0.814, p < 0.01), while no relationship was found between the frequency of micronuclei containing acrocentric chromosome(s) and donor age. This study indicates that the frequency of MN containing acrocentric chromosomes is neither over-represented nor influenced by age or sex.