The nature and repair of DNA lesions that lead to chromosomal aberrations induced by ionizing radiations.

Short treatment (up to 1 h) of cytosine arabinoside (araC) increases the frequencies of aberrations induced by X-rays in human lymphocytes, evaluated at the first mitosis following stimulation, or as prematurely condense chromosomes of G0 nuclei. Parallel biochemical experiments using nucleoid sedimentation technique, demonstrate that araC inhibits rejoining of DNA-strand breaks effectively. These results point out that X-ray-induced short-lived DNA strand breaks lead to chromosomal aberrations in human lymphocytes.