The effects of Cd administered ip in a single carcinogenic dose (1 mg Cd/kg body weight) into male CFLP mice were investigated on the histological and cytogenetic status of the testes of the animals on d 3 and 6 mo after the Cd injection. There were some characteristic histological changes in the testes of the mice on d 3 after Cd treatment: the presence of interstitial hemorrhages, the death of Leydig cells, sterile necroses of tubular elements, and numerous atypical mitoses of the spermatocytes. A significant increase compared with the control was found only in the number of numerical chromosome aberrations in the Cd-treated group. Six months later, a significant difference compared with the control was found only in the relative weight of the testes in the treated group. There were soon no detectable effects of Cd on the histological picture of the testes and on the spermatocytes.

Fetal chromosomal damage and toxicity were investigated in mice exposed to the atmospheric concentrations of 28.5 mg m-3, 2.9 mg m-3 and 0.26 mg m-3 of arsenic for 4 h per day on the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th days of gestation. On the 18th day, the fetuses were removed, and the following parameters were examined: the number of dead fetuses, retardation in growth, osteogenesis and chromosomal aberrations in liver cells. It was found that exposure to As2O3 at 28.5 mg m-3 caused fetotoxic effects and chromosomal damage, while the two lower exposures produced no significant changes with the exception of a slight decrease (9.9 and 3.1%, respectively) in fetal weight.

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The noninvasive method presented, using an "air culturing" technique, is capable of enriching for fetal cells in lymphocyte cultures of maternal blood. Through a combination of Y-body fluorescence and chromosomal heteromorphisms in the maternal blood, the fetal cells can be detected and used for the prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities and the sex of the fetus in both the first and the second halves of pregnancy.

A new translocation t(1;11;4)(1pter----1p32::11q23----11q13::4p16--- -4qter) was found in the peripheral blood of a patient with congenital acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML). It was concluded that this translocation may represent a new mutation, which caused the leukemia with very high leukocytosis, hepatosplenomegaly, leukemic infiltration of the majority of the organs, and a very poor prognosis.