The frequency of bone marrow chromosome aberrations in Syrian hamster, Mesocricetus auratus induced by the injection of log culture, saline suspension and culture filtrate of S. aureus was significantly high while the treatment of heat-killed bacterial suspension showed no difference with control data. In the first three treated series aberrations were of individual and gross types while others had only individual types. The chromatid breaks were nonrandom, the centro-meric region being less vulnerable and the distal region was more susceptible. The aberration frequency was significantly reduced when log culture, saline suspension and culture filtrate treated specimens were also injected with penicillin 1 hr before simultaneously and 1 hr after, of which the post-treatment rendered the maximum protection. Lastly, the treatment of isolated bacterial sample retarded the mitotic frequency significantly as compared to that of normal and controls
