The most common examination in sexual offences is the identification of spermatozoa in aqueous extracts from swabs. Using Proteinase K with sodium dodecyl sulphate, it is possible to digest all the cellular material apart from the spermatozoa, resulting in a quick and effective method of their isolation. Spermatozoa were detected in 18 extracts using this treatment when the normal method had failed to reveal all but one of them.

Endopeptidase K↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Xenoestrogens alter mammary gland differentiation and cell proliferation in the rat.

We investigated mammary gland differentiation and cell proliferation in rats after acute exposure to xenoestrogens. Pubertal female Sprague-Dawley rats (six/group) were treated for 1 week with diethylstilbestrol (DES), genistein, o,p'-DDT, Aroclor 1221, Aroclor 1254, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), or the vehicle, sesame oil. Animals were killed 18 hr after the last treatment. Analysis of mammary whole-mounts revealed that exposure to DES, genistein, and o,p'-DDT resulted in enhanced gland differentiation and increased epithelial cell proliferation as measured by proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunohistochemistry, TCDD treatment inhibited cell proliferation and gland development. Aroclor 1221 and Aroclor 1254 treatments had slight but not statistically significant effects on cell proliferation and mammary gland development. We conclude that DES, genistein, and o,p'-DDT given to pubertal rats act as morphogens; i.e., they increase cell proliferation, which promotes maturation of the undifferentiated terminal end buds to more differentiated lobular terminal ductal structures.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Clastogenic interactions between lobeline sulfate and ethyl alcohol: a cytogenetic study.

The clastogenicity of lobeline and possible interactions between lobeline and ethyl alcohol were investigated in a mutagen-sensitivity assay on cultures of human lymphoblastoid cell lines. Lobeline (10(-6) M) and ethyl alcohol (1% and 2%) were added to the cultures alone or in different combinations prior to or simultaneously with bleomycin treatment. The number of chromatid breaks per cell served as the indicator of clastogenicity. Lobeline alone was not clastogenic, but there was a marked increase in genetic damage resulting from a coclastogenic interaction between lobeline and ethyl alcohol. These data emphasize the significance of interactions between compounds that may increase genotoxicity in cells exposed to mutagenic environments.

Bleomycin↗