Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 6, Issue 7 377-383, Copyright © 1987 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Sister chromatid exchanges in laboratory cultured cells after repeated exposures to pulsed ultrasound
S. B. Barnett
In this in vitro study, suspensions of DON cells (lung diploid cell line
from the Chinese hamster) were exposed to ultrasound regimes using pulse
lengths similar to those used in ultrasonic Doppler measurements of fetal
blood flow. The base level frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE)
was not significantly altered following exposure to a range of spatial peak
temporal average intensities from 0.1 to 4.0 W/cm2. Repeating the exposure
on three further occasions during the 20 generations following the initial
insonation also had no effect. When DON cells were incubated in the
presence of Mitomycin C (MCC), a positive dose-related increase in SCE
frequency was observed, indicating the sensitivity of these cells to in
vitro SCE induction. Coincidental exposure to ultrasound and Mitomycin C
did not increase the SCE level above that obtained with MCC alone, and it
was concluded that there was no evidence of a synergistic association.
