Mutagenicity – in Vivo Mammalian Bone Marrow Chromosome Aberration Test

The mammalian in vivo chromosome aberration test is used for the detection of structural chromosome aberrations induced by the test substance to the bone marrow cells of animals, usually rodents (1)(2)(3)(4). Structural chromosome aberrations may be of two types, chromosome or chromatid. An increase in polyploidy may indicate that a chemical has the potential to induce numerical aberrations. With the majority of chemical mutagens, induced aberrations are of the chromatid-type, but chromosome-type aberrations also occur. Chromosome mutations and related events are the cause of many human genetic diseases and there is substantial evidence that chromosome mutations and related events causing alterations in oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes are involved in cancer in humans and experimental systems.