J Appl Biomed 9:209-218, 2011 | DOI: 10.2478/v10136-011-0007-2

Phosphorylation of histone H2AX in peripheral blood mononuclear cells after thoracic irradiation of rats

Radim Havelek1,*, Martina Řezáčová1, Zuzana Šinkorová2, Lenka Zárybnická2, Jaroslav Pejchal2, Jiřina Vávrová2
1 Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic
2 Department of Radiobiology, Faculty of Military Health Sciences in Hradec Králové, University of Defence, Czech Republic

Lymphocytes are among the most radiosensitive cells. After exposure of the organism to ionizing radiation, they promptly die by apoptosis at a rate proportional to the dose received. Because of this, they are frequently used in biodosimetry. We demonstrated that one hour after whole-body irradiation of rats, histone H2AX in the lymphocyte nuclei was quickly phosphorylated on serine 139, the phosphorylation process being directly dependent on the gamma radiation dose. In the work presented here, we studied the kinetics of lymphocyte depletion in the peripheral blood and phosphorylation of histone H2AX in the peripheral blood lymphocytes after local (thoracic) irradiation of rats. Twenty-four hours after whole-body irradiation of the rats at a dose of 5 Gy, the lymphocyte count declined to almost zero values, whereas after local irradiation of the thorax area, the counts of lymphocytes in the peripheral blood remained unaltered.
The authors employed two methods (flow-cytometric and microscopic) for the γH2AX determination in the peripheral blood lymphocytes, 1 h after thoracic irradiation of rats. Flow cytometry revealed a dose dependence on the increase in γH2AX in a dose range of 10-30 Gy. The microscopic method was more sensitive in the case of lower radiation doses, the dependence on the dose being obvious from a dose as low as 5 Gy. The methods are able, in the dose range 5-30 Gy, to differentiate between the type of irradiation, i.e. the whole-body or local.

Keywords: γH2AX; biodosimetry; ionizing radiation; thoracic; lymphocytes

Received: February 23, 2011; Revised: April 28, 2011; Published: July 31, 2011  Show citation

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Havelek R, Řezáčová M, Šinkorová Z, Zárybnická L, Pejchal J, Vávrová J. Phosphorylation of histone H2AX in peripheral blood mononuclear cells after thoracic irradiation of rats. J Appl Biomed. 2011;9(4):209-218. doi: 10.2478/v10136-011-0007-2.
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