Acta Pharm. 52 (2002) 61-66

Short communication
 

Mitotic abnormalities induced by oxazepam in the culture of human lymphocytes

SLAVICA IBRULJ1* and  AIDA EFENDIC-TASEVAC2

ibrulj@lsinter.net

1School of Medicine, Department of Biology and Human Genetics, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2Institute for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Received July 4, 2001      Accepted January 24, 2002

Genotoxic effects of oxazepam and its influence on the mitotic process in human lymphocytes in vitro are presented in this report. It has been established that oxazepam in a concentration of 0.5 to 50 µg mL-1 causes disturbances in the kinetics, separation, structure and organisation of chromosomes in every phase of lymphocyte division. Oxazepam induces lagging, vagrancy, dislocations, irregular grouping, anaphase and telophase chromosome bridges, stickiness and C-mitosis. The established irregularities point to the conclusion that oxazepam induces spindle aberrations and aneuploidy.


Keywords: oxazepam, mitotic abnormalities, human lymphocytes