Effects of contrast medium on radiation-induced chromosome aberrations.

The effects of contrast material (meglumine iothalamate) on radiation-induced chromosome aberrations were investigated in studies on the lymphocytes of patients who had undergone diagnostic radiography and in in vitro experiments with diagnostic x rays and 60Co gamma rays. Chromosome and chromatid aberrations were found to increase significantly with increasing concentrations of contrast material that were added at irradiation. However, the aberrations were not associated with elevation of the ratio of dicentric and ring chromosomes to the number of cells with unstable chromosome aberrations at the first mitosis. Lymphocytes irradiated in the absence of contrast material did not show an increase in chromosome-type aberrations when the agent was given in increasing concentrations during subsequent incubation, but there were greater numbers of chromatid gaps and breaks. When lymphocytes were exposed to 400 R (103.2 mC/kg) of 60Co gamma rays, the presence of contrast agent did not increase the yield of dicentric and ring chromosomes, but induced a marked delay in cell proliferation, especially in lymphocytes with more heavily damaged chromosomes. In additional examination, the contrast agent itself induced sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes.