Chromosome painting analysis of X-ray-induced aberrations in human lymphocytes in vitro

Chromosomal rearrangements in human lymphocytes induced by X-rays (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 Gray) were analyzed using chromosome painting. DNA probes for human chromosomes 1, 3 or 4 alone, and a combination of 1 and 4, were used for analysis. The frequency of cells with rearrangements, i.e. reciprocal translocations, dicentrics, insertions, tricentrics and fragments, involving chromosome 4 increased with dose in both 48 and 72 h cultures. The number of translocations per cell also increased with dose at 48 and 72 h. Dicentrics increased with dose in 48 h but not in 72 h cultures. The estimated genomic frequency of aberrations per cell was comparable with results in banded cells. No difference was shown on the detection efficiency of chromosome rearrangements among the various DNA probes used. Since this technique does not necessarily require well-spread metaphases for analysis, it is possible to increase the number of analyzable metaphases compared with the banding technique. Chromosome painting is a simpler, more objective and more practical method for detecting chromosome rearrangements than conventional banding analyses.