A chromosomal study on blood lymphocytes of patients poisoned by polychlorinated biphenyls

Chromosome studies were carried out on peripheral blood lymphocytes from 36 PCB-poisoned patients and on ten PCB-unexposed healthy controls. Nineteen out of 36 patients (52.7%) had either chromosome or chromatid aberrations, while none of the controls had. The highest percentage of cells with chromosome or chromatid aberrations in a single individual was 34.0. The blood PCB level ranged from 6.4 to 101.8 ppb, with a mean of 34.1 ppb. No correlation was observed between the level of blood PCB and the presence or absence of chromosome or chromatid aberrations.     

Chromosome analysis on two long-term established human colorectal carcinoma cell lines

A chromosomal analysis was carried out on two colorectal carcinoma cell lines (WiDr and COLO 205), which were established 15-20 years ago in the US and were collected by the Cell Bank of the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei. Among the 200 cells counted, 65.5% of WiDr (male) had 68-73 chromosomes, while 74% of the COLO 205 (female) had 70-76 chromosomes per cell. The Y chromosome was absent in the 30 WiDr metaphases analyzed. None of the other chromosomes, including X and the autosomes of both WiDr and COLO 205, revealed such a numerical deficiency. Over half of the autosomes had an average number per cell above 2.0. The existence of 5 or 6 normal homologues for certain autosomes was not rare in either line. Numerous structural abnormal marker chromosomes were present in the cells. As compared with the original chromosome findings which were done over 10 years ago, we noted that the range of chromosome counts was wider and the number of marker chromosomes increased in these long-term cultivated cell lines.