Dominant Lethal Mutations in Mammals

Abstract

The first requirements of a screening method for possible jmutagens are speed and simplicity. The dominant lethal assay in mice, as described in this chapter, meets both these requirements. Its value has already been demonstrated in studies with ionizing radiations (Russell et al., 1954; Bateman, 1958a) and with chemical mutagens (Bateman, 1960; Bateman, 1966; Cattanach et al., 1968; Ehling et al, 1968; Epstein and Shafner, 1968; Röhrborn, 1968; Generoso, 1969; Epstein et al., 1970a,b). The third requirement is relevance to problems of human exposure. Mutagenic effects in different organisms may exhibit very wide variations, probably reflecting differences in metabolism of the chemical under test. The relevance of results in any organism to the human response cannot therefore be guaranteed, but the probability of relevance is obviously greater if mammals are used as test systems.