Modeling the periodically-changing predictable response to mutagen exposure in CBA/LacY mice in a successive inbred generations]

A hypothesis on the genetic determination of periodic fluctuations of the sensitivity to the mutagen thioTEPA in successive inbred generations of mice has been earlier put forward. This study was the initial stage of testing this hypothesis. The mouse strain CBA/LacY was divided into two substrains, which differed in the rate of generation change. As a result, two colonies of isogenic mice differing by 10-12 generations with respect to the inbred age were obtained. Both the rate and range of variations in the mutagen sensitivity (four generations per period of the cycle and 20-40% of cells with chromosome aberrations after the standard dose of 2.5 mg/kg of thioTEPA, respectively) in 19 generations of the "fast" substrain agreed with earlier data. The response of the "slow" substrain corresponded to the expected response of the "fast" substrain after the given number of generations. In the mice of generations F142 and F146 that lived simultaneously and differed in thioTEPA sensitivity, the effects of the carcinogen benzoa]pyrene (BaP) were significantly different. The levels of these effects corresponded to the levels of the responses to thioTEPA. The data obtained agree with the hypothesis tested.