Reduction of intracellular glutathione content and radiosensitivity

The intracellular glutathione (GSH) content of HeLa, CHO and V79 cells was reduced by incubating the cells in growth medium containing buthionine sulphoximine or diethyl maleate (DEM). Clonogenicity, single-strand DNA breaks (ssb) and double-strand DNA breaks (dsb) were used as criteria for radiation-induced damage after X- or gamma-irradiation. In survival experiments, DEM gave a slightly larger sensitization although it gave a smaller reduction of the intracellular GSH. In general, sensitization was larger for dsb than for ssb, also the reduction of the o.e.r. was generally larger for dsb than for ssb. This may be due to the higher dose rate in case of dsb experiments resulting in a higher rate of radiochemical oxygen consumption. In general, no effect was found on post-irradiation repair of ssb and dsb.