Hydrogen peroxide-induced DNA repair and death of resting human blood lymphocytes

DNA single-strand breaks induced by cell treatment with hydrogen peroxide are repaired and simultaneously trigger programmed cell death in resting human blood lymphocytes. Apoptosis is accompanied by special morphological changes in lymphocytes (15% of total cell number), internucleosomal DNA degradation, and p53 level elevation. According to morphological criteria, a major part (up to 40% of total cell number) displayed necrotic death features. Nicotinamide inhibited repair in cells with 2.5-fold elevation of the apoptotic cell proportion, whereas the fraction of cells with necrotic nuclear morphology decreased 4.5-fold. Both the inhibition of repair and the protective effect of nicotinamide against necrotic death indicate that the repair process and related poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) activation induce a decrease in intracellular NAD+ and ATP contents below the threshold at which necrosis becomes the preferential mechanism of cell death. The mixed pattern of cell death induced by hydrogen peroxide observed in resting lymphocytes can be explained in the context of a concept of cell de-energization as a consequence of effective single-stand break repair during the first hours after removing the genotoxic agent.