Bleomycin, in contrast to gamma irradiation, induces extreme variation of DNA strand breakage from cell to cell

Chinese hamster ovary cells grown in vitro were treated with bleomycin or irradiated with high doses of 60Co gamma rays (200 and 400 Gy). DNA strand breaks in single cells were analysed by using our newly introduced microelectrophoretic technique. Bleomycin seems to act in a selective manner so that in some cells the DNA is heavily degraded while in others there is only moderate or no measurable damage. In contrast, a uniform response was found after gamma irradiation. To achieve the same magnitude of DNA fragmentation as in the most severely bleomycin-damaged cells, irradiation with more than 200 Gy is required. Some 8000 double-strand breaks per cell are produced by 200 Gy which will convert the molecular weight of the DNA to the range of 10(8)-10(9) dalton, and free migration of DNA fragments occurs during electrophoresis. We include also a detailed study of the DNA migration pattern following doses of 0-100 Gy gamma rays.