Physiological Saline Solutions as a Useful Tool in Micronucleus and Metaphase Slide Preparations

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Abstract
The micronucleus test (Schmid 1975) is widely used as an indicator of cytogenetic damage induced in vivo by clastogens and spindle poisons. Yamamoto and Kikuchi (1980) have recently showed that by comparing the relative size of micronuclei it is possible to determine whether an agent acts as a clastogen or a spindle poison. This finding will undoubtedly increase the use of the technique in routine protocols for the testing of chemicals. Besides, the test is quite sensitive and much simpler and faster than chromosome analysis. One obstacle, however, hinders several laboratories: the increasing unavailability of fetal calf serum. Recently, Das and Kar (1980) have proposed sodium citrate as a substitute for fetal calf serum. However, 1% sodium citrate solution is hypotonic, which fact may pose difficulties for an experimenter having to sacrifice several animals within a short time, a common situation in routine tests. We were able to overcome the problem of hypotonia by replacing fetal calf serum with the isotonic solutions 0.9% NaCl and Ringer's saline for mammals (9.00 g NaCl, 0.42 g KCl, 0.24 g CaCl2, 0.20 g NaHCO3, 1000 ml distilled. H2O) at room temperature.

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