Induction of repair functions by hydrogen peroxide in Chinese hamster cells.

Hydrogen peroxide has been found to kill Chinese hamster V79 cells as an exponential function of dose. When a small dose (0.9 microgram/ml for 1 h) was used as a pretreatment, before exposure to higher concentrations of the same agent, the cells became more resistant to killing than those which were not so pretreated. The presence of cycloheximide or benzamide, during this pretreatment, inhibited this observed increase in resistance. This pretreatment also resulted in decreased killing efficiency by MNNG and gamma-rays, but had no effect upon UV-light-induced killing. The results suggest that proteins (repair enzymes?) are synthesized after treatment with the small dose of hydrogen peroxide, and that these induced proteins enhance the cellular repair functions for agents causing DNA breaks.