Oxygen enhancement ratio of fractionated regimens in vitro

The oxygen enhancement ratio (OER) of proliferating and nonproliferating cells grown in vitro was measured using accelerated fractionated regimens. Irradiations were performed either twice daily or three times per day, with a minimum of 6 h between the consecutive fractions. The dose delivered was 2.3 Gy per fraction. Two significant observations were made: (i) the OER of accelerated fractionation regimens for proliferating cells is lower than that obtained from single-exposure experiments at 2.3 Gy (approximately 1.4 vs 2.4, respectively), while for nonproliferating cells it is approximately the same (2.3); (ii) the fractionated regimen does not spare proliferating cells irradiated under hypoxic conditions, and thus the fractionated survival curve lies below the single-exposure curve. For cells irradiated under aerobic conditions or for nonproliferating cells, irradiated under either hypoxic or aerobic conditions, the fractionated survival curve lies above the single-exposure curves as expected.