Abstract
Benzene is a widespread human carcinogen, inducing leukemia and hematotoxicity. Exposure of human lymphocytes to benzene metabolites has been shown to cause genetic damage, including aneusomy and chromosome aberrations. In order to detect the specific chromosomal changes in chromosomes 5, 7, 8, and 21 induced by benzene metabolites, 1,2,4-benzenetriol (BT), hydroquinone (HQ), and trans,trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) procedure in the metaphase spread of human lymphocytes was employed. Treatment with BT, HQ and tt-MA resulted in the induction of monosomy 5, 7, 8, and 21 in human lymphocytes in a concentration-dependent manner. All of these metabolites also induced trisomy 5, 7, 8, and 21, but no correlation between frequencies of trisomy and concentration was found. Translocations between chromosome 8 and another unidentified chromosome [t(8:?)] and between chromosome 21 and another unidentified chromosome [t(21:?)] were found. However, translocation between chromosome 8 and 21 [t(8:2 1)] was not found. Results indicate that the benzene metabolites BT, HQ and t,t-MA induce chromosome-specific numerical and structural aberrations, and the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) approach may be a useful and powerful technique for detection of aneuploidy.