Abstract
THERE is evidence that DNA replication and protein synthesis are affected when animals are subjected to nutritional deficiency comparable with severe malnutrition in humans1–7. There is some evidence of similar abnormalities in children with advanced protein–calorie malnutrition1–3,8–11, which suggests that in these circumstances cell division would fail and chromosomes would become structurally abnormal, either spontaneously or as an exaggerated response to environmental factors such as radiation12,13, chemical agents14 or viral infection15–17. We have investigated this possibility with a longitudinal study of chromosome structure in five infants and five preschool children aged 1–60 months with advanced protein–calorie malnutrition (Table 1).
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cheek, D. B., Graystone, J., and Read, M. S., Pediatrics, 45, 315 (1970).
Villee, C. A., in Biologic Principles of Growth in Human Development (edit. by Falkner, F.), 61 (Saunders, Philadelphia, 1967).
Cheek, D. B., in Human Growth: Body Composition, Cell Growth, Energy and Intelligence (Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, 1968).
Winick, M., and Noble, A., Develop. Biol., 12, 451 (1965).
Widdowson, E. M., and Whitehead, R. B., Nature, 212, 683 (1966).
Deo, M., Sood, S., and Ramalingaswami, V., Arch. Pathol., 80, 14 (1965).
Svoboda, D., Grady, H., and Higginson, J. Lab. Invest., 15, 731 (1966).
Metcoff, J., Ann. Rev. Med., 18, 377 (1967).
Gitlin, D., Cravioto, J., Frenk, S., Montaño, E. L., Ramos Galván, R., Gómez, F., and Janeway, C. A., J. Clin. Invest., 37, 682 (1958).
Waterlow, J. C., Cravioto, J., and Stephen, J. M., Adv. Protein Chem., 15, 131 (1960).
Waterlow, J. C., in Calorie Deficiencies and Protein Deficiencies (edit. by McCance, R. A., and Widdowson, E. M.), 61 (Churchill, London, 1968).
Evans, H. J., Court Brown, W. M., and McLean, A. S., in Human Radiation Cytogenetics (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1967).
United Nations, Twenty-Fourth Session General Assembly Suppl., 13, A/7613 (1969).
Evans, H. J., in Human Population Cytogenetics (edit. by Jacobs, P. A., Price, W. H., and Law, P.), 208 (Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1970).
Nichols, W. W., Levan, A., Hall, B., and Ostegren, G., Hereditas, 48, 368 (1962).
Stich, H. F., and Yohn, D. S., Nature, 215, 1292 (1967).
Paton, G. R., Jacobs, J. P., and Perkins, F. T., Nature, 207, 43 (1965).
Moorhead, P. S., Nowell, P. C., Mellman, W. J., Battips, D. M., and Hungerford, D. A., Exp. Cell Res., 20, 613 (1960).
Buckton, K. E., Jacobs, P. A., Court Brown, W. M., and Doll, R., Lancet, ii, 676 (1962).
Birth Defects, Original Article Series, 2, No. 2 (December 1966).
Tjio, J. H., and Whang, J., Stain Tech., 37, 17 (1962).
Evans, H. J., in Human Population Cytogenetics (edit. by Jacobs, P. A., Price, W. H., and Law, P.), 200 (Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1970).
Evans, H. J., in Human Population Cytogenetics (edit. by Jacobs, P. A., Price, W. H., and Law, P.), 199 (Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1970).
Tough, I. M., Buckton, K. E., and Baikie, A. G., Lancet, ii, 949 (1960).
Stewart, J. S. S., and Sanderson, A. R., Lancet, i, 978 (1961).
Bloom, A. D., and Tjio, J. H., New Engl. J. Med., 274, 1341 (1964).
Schimekel, R., Amer. J. Human Genet., 19, 1 (1967).
Norman, A., Sasaki, M. S., Ottoman, R. E., and Veomett, R. C., Radiat. Res., 23, 282 (1964).
Goh, K. O., and Sumner, H., Radiat. Res., 35, 171 (1968).
Hollowel, J. G., and Littlefield, G. L., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 129, 240 (1968).
Nichols, W., Levan, A., Heneen, W., and Peluse, M., Hereditas, 54, 213 (1965).
Evans, H. J., in Human Population Cytogenetics (edit. by Jacobs, P. A., Price, W. H., and Law, P.), 193 (Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1970).
Kiossoglou, K. A., Mitus, W. J., and Dameshek, W., Blood, 25, 662 (1965).
Matsaniotis, N., Kiossoglou, K. A., Maounis, F., and Basti-Maouni, B., Acta Haematol., 39, 29 (1968).
Wagner, R. P., and Mitchell, H. K., in Genetics and Metabolism, second ed., 673 (Wiley, New York, 1964).
Iyer, V. N., and Szybalski, W. A., Proc. US Nat. Acad. Sci., 50, 355 (1963).
Lea, D. E., in Actions of Radiation on Living Cells, second ed., 46 (University Press, London–Cambridge, 1955).
Wolff, S., and Luipold, H. H., Science, 122, 231 (1955).
Allison, A. C., and Paton, G. R., Nature, 207, 1170 (1965).
Farber, E., Cancer Res., 28, 1859 (1968).
Schroeder, T. M., Anschutz, F., and Knopp, A., Humangenetik, 1, 194 (1964).
German, J., Archibald, R., and Bloom, D., Science, 148, 506 (1965).
Hecht, F., Koler, R. D., Rigas, D. A., Dahnke, G. S., Case, M. P., Tisdale, V., and Miller, R. W., Lancet, ii, 1193 (1966).
Gillman, J., and Gillman, T., in Perspectives in Human Malnutrition, 229 (Grune and Stratton, New York, 1951).
Kumate, J., Gac. Med. Mex., 97, 1563 (1967).
Najjar, S. S., Stephan, M., and Assour, R. Y., Arch. Dis. Childhood, 44, 120 (1969).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ARMENDARES, S., SALAMANCA, F. & FRENK, S. Chromosome Abnormalities in Severe Protein Calorie Malnutrition. Nature 232, 271–273 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/232271a0
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/232271a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
