Adaptive response to low dose of EMS or MMS in human peripheral blood lymphocytes.

Human peripheral blood lymphocytes stimulated in vitro for 6 hr were exposed to a low (conditioning) dose of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS; 1.5 x 10(-4) M) or methyl methanesulfonate (MMS; 1.5 x 10(-5) M). After 6 hr, the cells were treated with a high (challenging) concentration of the same agent (1.5 x 10(-3) M EMS or 1.5 x 10(-4) M MMS). The cells that received both conditioning and challenging doses became less sensitive to the induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) than those which did not receive the pretreatment with EMS or MMS. They responded with lower frequencies of SCEs. This suggests that conditioning dose of EMS or MMS has offered the lymphocytes to have decreased SCEs. This led to the realization that pre-exposure of lymphocytes to low dose can cause the induction of repair activity. This is a clear indication of the existence of adaptive response induced by alkylating agents whether it is ethylating or methylating in human lymphocytes in vitro.

Inducible protective processes in animal systems: adaptive response to a low dose of methyl methanesulfonate in mouse bone marrow cells.

To investigate the induction of adaptive response (inducible protective processes) in mitotic cells of Swiss albino mouse, a monofunctional alkylating agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) was employed. When the animals treated with a low dose of 50 mg/kg body weight were challenged with a subsequent high (challenging) dose of 150 mg/kg body weight, after different time lags (2,5,8 or 10 hr), the yield of chromosomal aberrations in bone marrow cells was found to be significantly reduced compared to the additive effects of both conditioning and challenging doses. It seems, therefore, that the low dose of MMS employed has made the cells less sensitive against further clastogenic effect of challenge dose of MMS. The data clearly suggest that the phenomenon of adaptive response to methylating agents can be encountered in in vivo mammalian cells. Furthermore, it is also observed that ethylating agent EMS is a poor inducer of adaptive response than its corresponding methylating agent MMS in the bone marrow cells of mouse.