Relationships between DNA damage and the survival of radiosensitive mutant Chinese hamster cell lines exposed to gamma-radiation: Part 2. Effect of cellular redox status.

To characterize further the nature of the defects underlying the differential radiosensitivities of the Chinese hamster ovary cell lines NM2, EM9, and UV41, we compared the abilities of anoxia and of the thiol WR-1065 to protect these mutants and their parent cell line, AA8, from the lethal effects of gamma-radiation. Wide differences in oxygen enhancement ratios (OERs) for cell killing were observed in the different cell lines, those for UV41 and NM2 cells (1.8 and 2.1, respectively) being reduced and that for EM9 cells (3.3) being slightly (although significantly) increased compared with wild-type AA8 cells (2.9). These OER data support the hypothesis that repair-deficient mutants are hypersensitive to radiation under redox conditions that favour the formation of the particular lesions that correspond to their repair defect, and also support the earlier suggestion that the underlying molecular bases of the radiosensitivity of EM9 and NM2 cells are very different. In contrast to protection by anoxia, a 30-min preirradiation treatment with WR-1065 (4 mmol dm-3) protected aerated AA8, EM9, NM2, and UV41 cells to a similar extent with respect to both cell killing and the efficiency of DNA double-strand break (dsb) induction as measured by neutral elution. This observation is in marked contrast with reports of a greatly reduced protection by thiols for some repair-deficient cell lines and with the above-mentioned anoxia data. Thus, the particular types of mutations characteristic of NM2, EM9, and UV41 cells that give rise to their unusual OERs have little impact on the ability of WR-1065 to modify either cell killing or dsb induction, supporting radiochemical evidence that the types of deoxyribose radicals modifiable by oxygen and thiols are qualitatively different. Furthermore, because the extent of protection of these CHO mutants by thiols and anoxia show no correlation, oxygen depletion cannot be a major component of protection of aerated cells by thiols under these conditions.