Studies on Antimitotic and Cytological Effects of Some Amides

I. Isobutyl, 2-trans, 4-trans, decadienamide

Abstract

Growing roots of onion were treated with solutions of ISDA a new compound of plant origin for 1-4 hours and frequencies of different stages of mitosis were determined immediately. A sudden reduction of mitotic index was noted even after 1 hour's treatment with 0.005 %, while 0.02 % fully inhibited the cell division after 4 hours of treatment. A prophase to anaphase ratio showed that there is an appre-ciable amount of prophase inhibition and inhibition of the spindle which results in the polyploid nuclei. Cytological studies revealed abnormalities like bridges with or without fragments and a considerable number of polyploid cells. In second experiment the growing roots were treated with 0.02% ISDA for three hours and allowed to recover for different durations upto 120 hours. It was seen that the inhibition on frequency of division lessened as the period of recovery increased.
A number of cytological aberrations were encountered. These included bridges, micronuclei, pycnotic masses, fragments and laggards. Stickiness of chromosomes was pronounced throughout the treatment.
However, following a recovery period of 120 hours it was seen that most of the abnormalities disappeared and frequency of normal cells increased correspondingly.