Genetic effects of low dose radiation: DNA damage and micronucleus in treated cell lines.

CINTIA CRUDELI;; PONZINIBBIO MV,; PERAL GARCIA, P.; SEOANE A.

ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND TOXICOLOGY

Editorial Manager (tm)

Año: 2008

0090-4341

The present work was designed to analyze DNA damage induced by low doses of X-rays in two cell lines: one transformed, epithelial like and aneuploid Chinese hamster ovary, CHO-K1;the other originated from a human primary culture, fibroblastic, diploid and non-transformed, MRC-5. Damage was evaluated at the beginning of the experiment and 12 days after exposure by means of comet assay and micronucleus analysis, taking into account that alkaline comet assay is useful to make evident DNA-DSB and micronuclei technique is a good indicator of instability. Both radiation doses induced DNA damage in cells when compared to control, not only when they were analyzed immediately after exposition but also at day 12. Micronuclei frequencies were higher than control in both treatments. Cells scored at day 12 showed equal or more damage than those observed immediately after exposition. Comparison between CHO and MRC-5 cells showed a correlation coefficient of 0.89 for comet assay results whereas this value was 0.90 for micronucleus analysis.