Comparison of micronucleus frequencies and proliferation kinetics in three X-irradiated cell lines

The kinetics of the occurrence of micronuclei was correlated with the survival of three mammalian cell lines of human, monkey, and mouse origin after irradiation with 240 kV X-rays. Particular attention was paid to the evaluation of the individual proliferation kinetics of the cell lines as well as to the characterization of micronuclei subpopulation with respect to size and possible biological importance using DNA and BUdR labelling techniques, fluorescence microscopy, and image analysis. The results demonstrate very characteristic size distributions of micronuclei for the three cell lines independent of radiation dose and time after irradiation. A close correlation between cell death and the occurrence of micronuclei (expressed as a calculated "MN index") after irradiation could be established only when the kinetics of progression of cells through the cell cycle (e.g. the doubling time) and the biological characteristics of micronuclei (e.g. BUdR positivity, the micronucleus frequencies, and the number of micronuclei per main nucleus) were taken into account. Therefore, the micronucleus assay might not be useful as a quantitative predictive assay in vivo but may allow qualitative estimations of radiation damage only because the necessary proliferation parameters of the cells might not be possible to establish in vivo.