METABOLIC-ACTIVATION OF STYRENE BY ERYTHROCYTES DETECTED AS INCREASED SISTER CHROMATID EXCHANGES IN CULTURED HUMAN-LYMPHOCYTES

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 43  (8) , 3579-3582
Abstract
Styrene induces sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in human whole-blood lymphocyte cultures without exogenous metabolizing systems, which indicates that styrene is metabolically activated in this in vitro system. Whole-blood lymphocyte cultures from 11 male donors showed a clear increase in SCE after a 48 h treatment with styrene (2 mM) or with the reactive metabolite styrene 7,8-oxide (0.15 mM). Styrene (0.5-4 mM) induced a distinct dose-dependent increase in SCE in whole-blood cultures (with 200-400 million red blood cells/ml) but only a slight effect in purified lymphocyte cultures (with 20,000 red blood cells/ml). SCE induction by styrene (2 mM) depended on the amount of red blood cells (0.02-2000 million/ml) added to the purified lymphocyte cultures. Cyclophosphamide, studied for comparison, clearly increased SCE irrespective of the presence of erythrocytes. Erythrocytes are essential for the activation of styrene in the lymphocyte test system. This activation probably results from the conversion of styrene into styrene 7,8-oxide by oxyhemoglobin.