title: Early postirradiation chromatin degradation in thymocytes.
abstract: The decrease in the average DNA size in thymocytes starts soon after in vivo irradiation and at approximately 45 min reaches a plateau, thereafter showing only minor changes up to 3 h. This fall in extent of chromatin cleavage coincides with the accumulation of 1.0-1.5 kb DNA fragments. Double-strand breaks generated by endonucleases are not randomly distributed along DNA but clustered in such a way that they give rise to fragments of 1-5 nucleosomes in size. Cycloheximide treatment partially inhibits nuclease activity in nuclear extracts isolated from thymus of irradiated mice. This suggest that DNA fragmentation is an early event in programmed death of thymocytes mediated by irradiation. The data indicate that it requires protein synthesis and that it precedes release of polydeoxyribonucleotides.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, U.S.S.R. Department of Health, Moscow.
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Soldatenkov
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Denisenko
authors.forename: N N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Khodarev
authors.forename: I I
authors.initials: II
authors.lastname: Votrin
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Filippovich
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000528:radiation effects; D002843:Chromatin / Q000528:radiation effects*; D003513:Cycloheximide / Q000494:pharmacology; D004247:DNA / Q000528:radiation effects; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005720:Gamma Rays; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D011089:Polydeoxyribonucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D011089:Polydeoxyribonucleotides; D004247:DNA; D003513:Cycloheximide