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Protective effect of ethanol on X‐ray‐induced mitotic recombination in drosophila melanogaster
Author(s) -
Palermo Ana M.,
Rey Mónica,
Muñoz Enzo R.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
environmental and molecular mutagenesis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1098-2280
pISSN - 0893-6692
DOI - 10.1002/em.2850240209
Subject(s) - ethanol , drosophila melanogaster , irradiation , mitotic crossover , radical , recombination , mitosis , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , genetics , gene , physics , nuclear physics
The effect of ethanol pretreatment on X‐ray‐induced mitotic recombination in D. melanogaster females was investigated by means of the white/white + ( w/w + ) spot test. White females inseminated by yellow males were allowed to oviposit for 8 hr on medium containing 5%, 7.5% and 10% ( v/v ) ethanol and submitted to 10 Gy of X‐rays 52 hr after the beginning of the egg laying period (chronic treatments). For acute treatments 56 ± 4‐hr‐old larvae grown in regular medium were held in petri dishes containing filter paper soaked with 50% (v/v) ethanol for 30 min before being irradiated with 10 Gy. The emerging heterozygous w/w + females were inspected for the presence of white spots (LS) in their eyes. Acute ethanol pretreatments lead to a significant reduction in the frequency of LS. This is suggested to be due to the scavenging by ethanol of free radicals originating during irradiation. If so, the contribution of the indirect action of radiation to mitotic recombination induced by X‐rays must be significant. Chronic ethanol pretreatments also resulted in a decrease of LS, though impairment of larval development by ethanol may have partly contributed to the effect observed. At the concentrations tested, ethanol by itself did not modify the frequency of LS observed in the control. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.