EFFECTS OF HIGHLY TOXIC ORGANOCHLORINE COMPOUNDS RETAINED IN HUMAN-BODY ON INDUCTION OF SISTER-CHROMATID EXCHANGES IN CULTURED HUMAN-LYMPHOCYTES

In this study, we investigated the effect of mixture of the organochlorine compounds, which very resembled their contamination of healthy Japanese people in its composition, on the induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in human whole-blood cultures in order to clarify their genotoxicity as a whole. The following results were obtained. Regardless of the presence or absence of 7,8-benzoflavone (ANF) in the blood culture system, we could observe a fairly good dose-response relationship between the concentration of the mixture of organochlorine compounds and the induction of SCEs/cell. In particular, we found that 50% effective concentration of the mixture of the organo-chlorine compounds was considered to be only about 3 times greater level over the average concentration in the healthy people, namely 70ppt as 2,3,7,8-TCDD, in the absence of ANF and about 8 times more than that in the presence of ANF.