ZHOU Changhui1, WANG Qingli2, WANG Zheng1, ZHANG Ming1, CHANG Yan1*
2013, 44(3): 269-273.
A study was performed to validate the three-color ?ow cytometry-based technique (FCM) for
enumerating micronucleus (MN) in mouse peripheral blood and to evaluate the degree of correspondence between FCM and conventional microscopy-based method. For these studies, groups of ten mice received a single dose of solvent (normal saline or 0.5% CMC-Na), benzo[a]pyrene, ?uorouracil, methotrexate, mitomycin C, methyl methanesulfonate, colchicine, vincristine sulfate, new compound A or new compound B. Micronucleated reticulocyte frequencies were measured by FCM [20 000 reticulocytes (RET) per sample] while micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes were scored by conventional microscopy-based analysis [2 000 polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) per sample]. Parallel analysis of micronucleus induction in peripheral blood by FCM and bone marrow using conventional microscopybased method showed concordant results (r=0.913). The ?ow cytometric assessment of MN-RETs in mouse peripheral blood was a sensitive, fast and objective automatic analysis of micronuclei, which could be an acceptable alternative to microscopy-based analysis in mouse bone marrow micronucleus test in vivo.