Effect of triazole pesticide formulation on bovine culture cells

To date, most data about the possible genotoxic effect of triazole pesticides are focused on laboratory animals resulting in limited information on further non-target organisms such as cattle. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of triazole (tebuconazole/prothioconazole) fungicide formulation on the induction of chromosomal aberrations (CAs), sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and DNA fragmentation in bovine cultured lymphocytes. Our results showed that the fungicide formulation did not induce significant number of CAs in bovine cells after 24 h treatment. Nevertheless, the dose-dependent reduction of mitotic division was observed, with the strongest effect at 30.0 μg mL^?1 in both donors (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively). Prolonged 48 h exposure caused the increased level of breaks in treated cultures (3.0?15.0 μg mL^?1; P < 0.05) and significant decrease in mitotic index (MI). The tested fungicide failed to produce any statistical changes in the SCE frequency neither after 24 h nor 48 h treatment. However, the significant decline of the proliferation index (PI) was observed after 24 h indicating the fungicide influence on cell cycle kinetics. Prolonged 48 h exposure caused cytotoxicity reflecting in lower PI value relative to control mainly at the highest fungicide concentrations (30.0 μg mL^?1, P < 0.001). Using painting probes for bovine chromosomes 1, 5 and 7 (BTA1, BTA5 and BTA7) only low levels of aneuploidies were detected. Significant increase of polyploidy cells (P < 0.05) was induced by a 3.0 μg mL^?1 dose of the fungicide after 48 h. DNA fragmentation assay didn't reveal the presence of DNA nucleosome ladder in cell cultures at any time (24 h and 48 h) and fungicide concentration.     

Non-mosaic trisomy 22: a report of 2 cases

Non-mosaic trisomy 22 is a common cause of first trimester miscarriage and has a livebirth incidence of 1 in 30 000–50 000. Consequently there is a paucity of information for counselling parents. Detection in the second trimester is rare. It is commonly associated with severe growth retardation and multiple structural abnormalities. Oligohydramnios is frequently seen and can make detection of other abnormalities difficult. The outlook is uniformly poor and survival beyond the first trimester may present management dilemmas. A thorough fetal assessment including high-resolution cytogenetics with or without FISH is required for counselling. Careful plans for intrapartum and neonatal management may be necessary. The recurrence risk is thought to be low but information is very limited as there have been no reported cases of recurrence. We present two case of non-mosaic trisomy 22 including the first to be diagnosed subsequent to investigation for a high serum screening Down's risk. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.