title: Mechanisms of oxygen radiosensitization in irradiated yeast. I. DNA double-strand breakage.
abstract: The relative contributions of the OH-mediated and direct radiation effect on the induction of DNA double-strand breaks (dsbs) were evaluated in two haploid yeast cell lines (GSH+ and gsh-) irradiated under oxic or hypoxic conditions in the absence or presence of 6 M glycerol as an OH radical scavenger. Gsh- cells are deficient in glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis, their GSH content is only 2% compared with GSH+ cells. Similar relative contributions are observed for both cell lines. Under oxic irradiation conditions about 64% of the response can be attributed to the OH-mediated (or indirect) radiation effect, whereas in hypoxic cells the indirect effect is only about 45%. High oxygen enhancement ratios (OERs) are observed for the OH-mediated radiation effect (4.24 for GSH+, 2.70 for gsh- cells) and low OERs for the direct effect (1.66 for GSH+, 1.44 for gsh- cells). The weighted total (i.e. direct and indirect) OER is 2.74 (GSH+) and 2.03 (gsh-). The dependence of radiosensitization for double-strand breakage on oxygen concentration is characterized by three components whose K-values are 0.5, 4 and 20% oxygen for GSH+ cells and 0.45, 5 and 60% oxygen for gsh- cells. Evidence is presented that the first two components represent the radiosensitization by oxygen of the OH-mediated effect, whereas the third component, requiring the highest oxygen concentration for sensitization, represents the radiosensitization by the direct effect. GSH+ and gsh- cells show virtually the same K-values for the OH-mediated effect, but different K-values for the direct effect.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung Klinische Strahlenbiologie, Universität Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frankenberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frankenberg-Schwager
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harbich
mesh_terms: D004249:DNA Damage; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000528:radiation effects*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000502:physiology*; D011831:Radiation Genetics; D011836:Radiation Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D010100:Oxygen