Abstract
We have examinedin vitro andin vivo radioprotective effects of a well-known thiol-containing compound, dithiothreitol (DTT). The treatment of both 0.5 and 1 mM of DTT significantly increased clonogenic survival of γ-ray irradiated Chinese hamster (V79-4) cells. In order to investigate the possible radioprotective mechanism of DTT, we measured γ-ray induced chromosome aberration by micronucleus assay. In the presence of 0.5 mM or 1 mM DTT, the frequencies of micronuclei were greatly reduced in all dose range examined (1.5–8 Gy). Slightly higher reduction in micronucleus formation was observed in 1 mM DTT-treated cells than in 0.5 mM DTT-treated cells. In addition, incubation with both 0.5 and 1 mM of DTT prior to γ-ray irradiation reduced nucleosomal DNA fragmentation at about same extent, this result suggests that treatment of DTT at concentrations of 0.5 and 1 mM reduced radiation-induced apoptosis.In vivo experiments, we also observed that DTT treatment reduced the incidence of apoptotic cells in mouse small intestine crypts. In irradiated control group 4.4±0.5 apoptotic cells per crypt were observed. In DTT-administered and irradiated mice, only 2.1±0.4 apoptotic cells per crypt was observed.In vitro andin vivo data obtained in this study showed that DTT reduced radiation-induced damages and it seems that the possible radioprotective mechanisms of action of DTT are prevention of chromosome aberration.
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Kim, J.H., Lee, E.J., Hyun, J.W. et al. Reduction of radiation-induced chromosome aberration and apoptosis by dithiothreitol. Arch. Pharm. Res. 21, 683–687 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02976757
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02976757