Journal
TOXICOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 94, Issue 1, Pages 83-91Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kfl075
Keywords
flow cytometric analysis; reticulocytes; micronucleus test; CD71
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Accumulating evidence suggests that reticulocytes (RETs) in the peripheral blood of rats may represent a suitable cell population for use in the micronucleus assay, despite the ability of the rat spleen to selectively remove micronucleated erythrocytes from the peripheral circulation. To evaluate the analytical performance of a previously described flow cytometric method (Torous et al., 2003, Toxicol. Sci. 74, 309-314) that may allow this assay to be conducted using peripheral blood in lieu of bone marrow sampling, we compared the sensitivity and performance characteristics of the flow cytometric technique with two established microscopy-based scoring methods. Peripheral blood samples from single Sprague-Dawley rats treated for 6 days with either vehicle or cyclophosphamide were prepared in replicate for scoring by the three methods at different laboratories. These blood-based measurements were compared to those derived from bone marrow specimens from the same animals, stained with acridine orange, and scored by microscopy. Through the analysis of replicate specimens, inter- and intralaboratory variability were evaluated for each method. Scoring reproducibility over time was also evaluated. These data support the premise that rat RETs harvested from peripheral blood are a suitable cell population to assess genotoxicant-induced micronucleus formation. The interlaboratory comparison provides evidence of the general robustness of the micronucleus endpoint using different analytical approaches. Furthermore, data presented herein demonstrate a clear advantage of flow cytometry-based scoring over microscopy-significantly lower inter- and intralaboratory variation and higher statistical sensitivity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available