Medical Radiology and Radiation Safety. 2025. Vol. 70. № 2
DOI:10.33266/1024-6177-2025-70-2-23-26
Yu.A. Zrilova1, A.K. Chigasova1, 2, 3, M.A. Ignatov1, 2, N.Yu. Vorobyеva1, 2,
A.A. Osipov2, V.O. Saburov4, E.I. Kazakov4, S.N. Koryakin4,
Yu.A. Fedotov1, 2, A.Yu. Bushmanov1, A.N. Osipov1, 2
Low Efficiency of DNA Repair in Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes Irradiated ex vivo by 14.1 MeV Neutrons
1 A.I. Burnazyan Federal Medical Biophysical Center, Moscow, Russia
2 N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
3 Institute of Biochemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
4 A.F. Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Center – branch of the National Medical Research
Radiological Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Obninsk
Contact person: A.N. Osipov, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the efficiency of DNA repair in human peripheral blood lymphocytes irradiated ex vivo by 14.1 MeV neutrons.
Material and methods: The peripheral blood of three physically healthy male donors aged 28–40 years was used for the study. The peripheral blood was collected in K2EDTA vacutainers (Vacuette). All donors gave their consent to conduct this study. Isolation of lymphocytes was performed by centrifugation in a ficoll-verografin density gradient of 1.077 g/cm3 (Histopaque, Sigma-Aldrich) in accordance with the attached instructions. Cell irradiation was performed at the A.F. Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Center on the NG-14 neutron generator (FSUE VNIIA, Russia), which provided neutron fluxes with an energy of 14.1 MeV, and the gamma-therapeutic device “ROKUS-AM” (JSC Ravenstvo, Russia; cobalt-60, dose rate 0.5 Gy/min) at doses of 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 Gy. To assess the effectiveness of DNA repair, the DNA comet method was used under alkaline conditions. The study was performed immediately after irradiation and after 15 min of cell incubation in complete culture medium at 37 °C. The tail moment and % DNA in the comet tail were used as a criterion for DNA damage. Statistical significance was assessed using analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: It was demonstrated that the efficiency of DNA repair in lymphocytes peripheral blood of a person after exposure to 14.1 MeV neutrons is ~ 4–5 times lower than after exposure to cobalt-60 gamma-radiation. The results obtained indicate that in the case of exposure to 14.1 MeV neutron radiation, the contribution of complex, difficult-to-repair DNA damage is much higher than when exposed to gamma radiation, which determines the high relative biological effectiveness of neutron radiation.
Keywords: fast neutrons, lymphocytes, DNA damage, DNA repair, DNA comet assay
For citation: Zrilova YuA, Chigasova AK, Ignatov MA, Vorobyеva NYu, Osipov AA, Saburov VO, Kazakov EI, Koryakin SN, Fedotov YuA, Bushmanov AYu, Osipov AN. Low Efficiency of DNA Repair in Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes Irradiated ex vivo by 14.1 MeV Neutrons. Medical Radiology and Radiation Safety. 2025;70(2):23–26. (In Russian). DOI:10.33266/1024-6177-2025-70-2-23-26
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Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Financing. The research was carried out within the framework of the state assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (No. 1023112000035-8, code “Cosmos-DNA”).
Contribution. Article was prepared with equal participation of the authors.
Article received: 20.12.2024. Accepted for publication: 25.01.2025.