J. Jackson, K. Lindahl-Kiessling
Aug 2, 1963
Citations
0
Influential Citations
42
Citations
Journal
Science
Abstract
Treatment of cultured human peripheral blood leukocytes with β-mercaptopyruvate resulted in marked increases in polyploidy and endoreduplication in squash preparations of mitoses in the metaphase stage. Since β-mercaptopyruvate occurs in man as an intermediary metabolite in cysteine degradation, it might contribute to the development of polyploidy in vivo, especially in tumors lacking desulfurase enzymes.