Genotoxicity assays are characterized by a method, an in vitro or in vivo target, and an endpoint. Many cell types have been used as targets, including bacterial cells, cultured mammalian cells, and rodent cells in vivo. Human cells are the most important target for evaluating the risk to humans associated with exposure to chemicals. Almost exclusively, the human cells used in genotoxicity tests have been cultured cells. Here, we have tested human hepatocytes in PXB-mice®, chimeric mice in which the liver has been repopulated with human hepatocytes, as a source of target cells for in vivo genotoxicity assays. We applied the single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay to detect DNA damage and the micronucleus assay to evaluate chromosomal aberrations. These chimeric mice can serve as a valuable model system for genotoxicity assays.

中文翻译：

---

具有人类肝细胞的嵌合小鼠：用于遗传毒性研究的新系统。

基因毒性试验的特征在于方法，体外或体内靶标以及终点。许多细胞类型已被用作靶标，包括细菌细胞，培养的哺乳动物细胞和体内的啮齿动物细胞。人体细胞是评估与化学物质接触对人体的风险的最重要目标。基因毒性试验中使用的人类细胞几乎完全是培养的细胞。在这里，我们已经在嵌合小鼠中测试了人类肝细胞，在嵌合小鼠中，肝脏已经被人类肝细胞重新填充，作为体内遗传毒性试验靶细胞的来源。我们应用了单细胞凝胶电泳（彗星）测定法来检测DNA损伤，并应用微核测定法来评估染色体畸变。这些嵌合小鼠可以作为遗传毒性测定的有价值的模型系统。