Frequency of acrocentric associations in Bhopal gas tragedy survivors

doi: 10.5138/ijcmb.v1i1.204

Abstract

The frequency and patterns of acrocentric associations were determined in the peripheral blood lymphocyte cultures of fifty healthy subjects surviving after the exposure to Bhopal gas tragedy, 1984. Same number of age, sex and area matched individuals were selected as controls. The exposed and the non-exposed groups comprised of 24 males and 26 females each. The results of the present study revealed that the mean percentage of acrocentric associations in exposed population was 20.44±1.38, which was significantly higher (P<0.0001) as compared to the controls (12.20±0.64). The frequency of large as well as small associated acrocentric chromosomes in the exposed subjects was also found to be significantly higher as compared to the controls. The most frequent type of association was DG (D group-G group) type in the exposed males (P<0.0001) and DD (D group-D group) type in the exposed females (P=0.0016). Moreover, DDG and GGD type of associations were also observed in some of the exposed subjects. Higher frequency of satellite associations revealed by our results may predispose the exposed individuals to non-disjunction of chromosomes that may ultimately lead to genomic instability.

Keywords: acrocentric association, Bhopal gas tragedy, genomic instability