Radioprotective effect of cysteamine in glutathione synthetase-deficient cells

The radioprotective role of endogenous and exogenous thiols was investigated, with survival as the end-point, after radiation exposure of cells under oxic and hypoxic conditions. Human cell strains originating from a 5-oxoprolinuria patient and from a related control were used. Due to a genetic deficiency in glutathione synthetase, the level of free SH groups, and in particular that of glutathione, is decreased in 5-oxoprolinuria cells. The glutathione synthetase deficient cells have a reduced oxygen enhancement ratio (1.5) compared to control cells (2.7). The radiosensitivity was assessed for both cell strains in the presence of different concentrations of an exogenous radioprotector:cysteamine. At concentrations varying between 0.1 and 20 mM, cysteamine protected the two cell strains to the same extent when irradiated under oxic and hypoxic conditions. The protective effect of cysteamine was lower under hypoxia than under oxic conditions for both cell strains. Consequently, the oxygen enhancement ratio decreased for both cell strains when cysteamine concentration increased. These results suggest that cysteamine cannot replace endogenous thiols as far as they are implicated in the radiobiological oxygen effect.