Quantification of histoautoradiographic evidence of DNA repair synthesis in the liver

Histoautoradiography was used to detect dimethylnitrosamine-induced 3H-thymidine incorporation in vivo into G phase hepatocytes. A description of the standard procedure for counting the grains as well as the mode of mathematical evaluation is presented. The results exhibited higher sensitivity than those in the investigation of the DNA repair synthesis by means of a scintillation counter using the method of detection of hydroxyurea-resistant incorporation of 3H-thymidine. Thus it was possible to simplify the investigation by lowering the number of evaluated cells. A suitable compromise between precision and laboriousness will probably be achieved by counting 20 hepatocytes per animal. In case that there are striking differences between the experimental and the control group, a qualitative conclusion may be drawn even without counting the grains.