Analyzing the role of biochemical processes in determining response to ionizing radiations

The interaction of biochemical processes and radiation damage appears to play a major role in determining long-term biological effects. It is responsible for both the removal of radiation-induced alterations in macromolecules and for the time-dependent changes in survival of irradiated cells. Restoration of macromolecules by such means as the rejoining of strand breaks in DNA suggests a variety of possible mechanisms which could lead to the observed enhancement of cell survival. However, even though a number of molecular repair mechanisms have been identified, specific links between any such mechanisms and a subsequent modification of cell survival have proved difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate. Models of cellular response provide a means of attempting to establish this connection. Although details of radiation chemistry, chromatin structure, enzymatic repair, molecular genetics, and cell cycle kinetics are generally simplified, each individual model incorporates features based on a set of assumed mechanisms. For example, one group of models assumes that all damage is potentially lethal (capable of killing the cell unless it is repaired), while another assumes that part of the damage is sublethal (innocuous until it interacts with other damage). Using split-dose, dose-rate, and delayed-plating techniques, we have demonstrated two distinct components of repair in plateau-phase Chinese hamster ovary cells. One process has a characteristic time of about 1 h; the other, about 18 h. In both cases, the reaction rates and the fractions of damage repaired appear to be independent of the initial amounts of damage produced. These observations suggest that none of the simpler models adequately describes cell inactivation; i.e., reproductive death is inconsistent with all assumptions regarding any of them. Consequently, more-complex models involving combinations of sublethal and potentially lethal damage or multiple-step damage processes may be required. These findings help to define the effects of exposure at low doses and dose rates and to develop an understanding of the underlying biochemical mechanisms involved.