Abstract
We investigated the clastogenic potential of antimycin A, which is well known as a mitochondrial inhibitor (Complex III blocker), utilizing two cultured cell lines, CHL/IU and CHO-WBL. Antimycin A induced chromosome structural aberrations in CHL cells in the presence of S9 mix. However, no chromosome structural aberrations were induced under three different treatment conditions in CHO cells with or without S9 mix. Instead, it induced polyploidy, including endoreduplicated cells, in CHO cells with or without S9 mix. By conducting the comet assay, we found that the antimycin A has no potential to induce DNA damage in these cells. Thus, the chromosome aberrations induced in these cells might be caused by non-DNA-reactive mechanism. Based on these findings, it is suggested that some of the differences between the congenital characteristics of these cells play an important role in the differences of the clastogenic response.
