INDUCTION AND REPAIR OF DNA SINGLE-STRAND BREAKS AND DNA-BASE DAMAGE AT DIFFERENT CELLULAR STAGES OF SPERMATOGENESIS OF THE HAMSTER UPON IN-VITRO EXPOSURE TO IONIZING-RADIATION

Alkaline elution has been used for quantitative detection of DNA damag e caused by ionizing radiation in unlabeled. somatic and germ cells. B oth the induction and subsequent repair have been studied for two clas ses of DNA damage, viz. single-strand breaks (SSB), and base damage (B D) recognized by the gamma-endonuclease activity in a cell-free extrac t of Micrococcus luteus bacteria. The high sensitivity of the assay pe rmitted the measurement of induction and repair of SSB and BD after in vitro exposure of hamster germ cells in different cellular stages of spermatogenesis (spermatocytes, round and elongated spermatids), and o f bone-marrow cells, to biologically- relevant doses (0-8 Gy) of Co-60 gamma-rays. A dose-dependent increase was observed for both types of lesions, which was similar for most cell types. The elongated spermati ds, however, showed a lower induction frequency of SSB (and perhaps BD ). Spermatocytes, round spermatids and bone-marrow cells had normal, f ast repair of the SSB when compared with the repair reported for cultu red rodent cells and human lymphocytes. In contrast, the elongated spe rmatids showed hardly any SSB repair. The initial rate of repair of BD in spermatocytes and bone-marrow cells was in the same range as that for SSB, but only 60-70% of the initial BD was repaired within 1 h, wh ereas after that period no SSB were detectable. The round spermatids h ardly repaired any BD within the first hour after irradiation, but aft er 7 h only a few BD could be detected. In elongated spermatids repair of BD could not be measured due to a high background level of this ty pe of damage.