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Chromosomes of peripheral leukocytes were examined in 28 addicts participating in a Veterans Administration-Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) cooperative study of methadyl acetate vs methadone. Blood samples for 72-hour leukocyte cultures were drawn after nearly 40 weeks of maintenance therapy while subjects were receiving active medication. For comparison, ten nondrug users were also studied. The frequency of chromosome damage was not greater in subjects maintained on methadyl acetate or methadone than in nondrug users.

The effects of imipramine hydrochloride on cell proliferation were investigated in leukocyte cultures derived from normal volunteers. Nine different doses of imipramine were added in vitro at random for 4, 24, 48, and 68 hours, the three lowest concentrations being within the range of plasma levels reported in psychiatric patients receiving the drug therapeutically. Cell proliferations, as measured by mitotic index, was affected by both the concentration and the duration of drug exposure; the higher the dose and/or the longer the drug in culture, the lower the mitotic index. Imipramine concentrations corresponding to therapeutic plasma levels had no effect on mitotic index regardless of the length of exposure.