Effect of bromodeoxyuridine on radiation-induced DNA damage and repair based on DNA fragment size using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

We have used biphasic linear ramping pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to understand the effect of incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd) on radiation-induced DNA damage and repair. This technique permits a determination of the fragment size distribution produced immediately after irradiation as well as during the repair period. We found that incorporation of BrdUrd increased the induction and decreased the repair of radiation damage. The fragment size distribution was consistent with a random breakage model. When we found that significantly more damage was detected after irradiation of deproteinized DNA compared to intact cells, we studied the effects of BrdUrd incorporation on the radiation response of cells or DNA at various phases of preparation for electrophoresis: cells adherent to the culture dish (A), trypsinized cells (B), agarose-embedded cells (C) and deproteinized DNA (D). Although there was a general tendency to detect more damage when irradiation was performed later in the preparation process, steps B and C were the only successive steps which were significantly different. These findings demonstrate that incorporation of BrdUrd randomly increases the induction of radiation damage and decreases its repair at the level of 200 kbp to 5 Mbp fragments. Furthermore, they confirm that the amount of damage detected depends upon the conditions of the cells or DNA at the time of irradiation.