To estimate the absorbed dose of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) ingested in Drosophila melanogaster, males were fed with sucrose solutions containing various concentrations of ENU plus 3H-labeled sucrose for 24 hr. Flies showed decreasing intakes with increase in ENU concentration when monitored by intake 3H radioactivity. Absorbed dose, D, per male can be estimated by the following formula: D = v . C, where v is intake volume per male of sucrose solution at concentration C. Estimating the v value for each ENU solution from 3H radioactivities in male flies, and using the above formula, we reached the conclusion that average absorbed doses of ENU were 0.064, 0.221, and 0.302 nmol, respectively, for the ENU concentrations of 0.03, 0.3, and 1.0 mM. Sex-linked recessive lethals were measured for males exposed to these sucrose solutions at three different ENU concentrations. Their frequencies increased nonlinearly with increasing exposure doses--ie, ENU concentration C--but linearly with increasing absorbed doses estimated in the above-mentioned way.

Induction of recessive lethal mutations by N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) was studied for the second chromosome of spermatogonia and spermatozoa in Drosophila melanogaster. ENU (0.03, 0.3, and 1.0 mM) was given to flies by dissolving it in feeding sucrose solution. Since flies are known to show increased avoidance of the feeding solution with increase in ENU concentration, the absorbed doses of ENU by flies were estimated from the previously determined empirical data for relation of ENU concentration in the feeding solution and the intake volumes of the solution by flies as measured indirectly via intake radioactivities of 3H-labeled sucrose added to the solution. When plotted against absorbed doses of ENU, the observed frequencies of recessive lethals showed a linear relationship for induction in spermatozoa but a sigmoidal relationship for induction in spermatogonia. These results suggest that in spermatogonia ENU-induced mutational damage is more repairable in a lower dose range of ENU. Mosaic lethal mutations were induced by ENU but not in spermatogonia.

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