The influence of in situ repair systems on survival of several irradiated parenchymal cell types.

Radiation survival curves are presented for several normal parenchymal cell types irradiated in situ or in vitro. The data presented indicate that the in situ survival parameters for a specific cell type cannot be simply extrapolated from the results of either in vitro assays or rapid in vivo clonal transplantation assays. The data suggest that the D0 and terminal slope of in vitro survival curves can reflect those parameters for cells left in situ, but the shoulder width and the n value cannot. This appears to be due to the inability of the in vitro environment to support two major forms of repair that occur in situ, i.e. the "contact effect" and in situ repair (ISR). ISR is a form of potentially lethal damage repair (PLDR) that occurs when certain cells are allowed to remain in situ following irradiation. ISR is characterized by an increased shoulder in the survival curve without a change in slope and it has been observed in rat mammary, thyroid and liver epithelia.