He-Ne laser irradiation protects B-lymphoblasts from UVA-induced DNA damage

The effect of He-Ne laser (632.8 nm) pre-irradiation on UVA (343 nm)-induced DNA damage in the human B-lymphoblast cell line NC37 was investigated using the comet assay. He-Ne laser pre-irradiation was observed to result in a dose-dependent decrease in UVA-induced DNA damage. This effect was also found to be dependent on the incubation period between He-Ne laser pre-irradiation and the UVA exposure. Whereas the control cells with a higher DNA damage point to an initial ability of faster repair, both the control and the He-Ne laser pre-irradiated cells subsequently show the same rate of DNA repair. The results suggest that He-Ne laser irradiation protect the cells from UVA-induced DNA damage primarily through an influence on processes that prevent an initial DNA damage. Received: 10 April 2000 / Accepted: 24 November 2000     

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Quiescence Attenuates DNA Damage Response and Permits DNA Damage Accumulation During Aging

The aging of tissue-specific stem and progenitor cells is believed to be central to the pathophysiological conditions arising in aged individuals. While the mechanisms driving stem cell aging are poorly understood, mounting evidence points to age-dependent DNA damage accrual as an important contributing factor. While it has been postulated that DNA damage may deplete stem cell numbers with age, recent studies indicate that murine hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) reserves are in fact maintained despite the accrual of genomic damage with age. Evidence suggests this to be a result of the quiescent (G0) cell cycle status of HSC, which results in an attenuation of checkpoint control and DNA damage responses for repair or apoptosis. When aged stem cells that have acquired damage are called into cycle under conditions of stress or tissue regeneration however, their functional capacity was shown to be severely impaired. These data suggest that age-dependent DNA damage accumulation may underlie the diminished capacity of aged stem cells to mediate a return to homeostasis after acute stress or injury. Moreover, the cytoprotection afforded by stem cell quiescence in stress-free, steady-state conditions suggests a mechanism through which potentially dangerous lesions can accumulate in the stem cell pool with age.     

Kinetics of excision repair of UV-induced DNA damage, measured using the comet assay

The kinetics of UV- (254 nm) irradiation-induced DNA single-strand breaks (SSBs), generated during the excision repair of UV-induced DNA damage, in leukemic lymphocytes and in normal blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) were studied using the alkaline comet assay. The cells were isolated by density gradient centrifugation from peripheral blood of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and from healthy study subjects. The cytotoxicity of UV irradiation was determined in vitro in peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes from 36 CLL patients and from eight healthy donors using the incorporation of radioactive leucine in 4-day cultures. A remarkable difference in excision repair capability was observed between normal and leukemic lymphocytes. In contrast to normal lymphocytes, there was always a subpopulation of CLL cells that did not complete the repair of UV-induced DNA damage during the 24-h repair period. Furthermore, differences were also recorded between UV-sensitive and UV-resistant CLL cases. The differences in DNA migration between the maximum increase (59-77 microm) and that at 24 h after irradiation (21-66 microm) was statistically significant in two of three patients exhibiting UV-resistance. Correspondingly, only in one of three patients exhibiting UV-sensitivity was the difference in DNA migration statistically significant (maximum increase: 44-107 microm, vs. 24 h after: 42-100 microm). Our results confirm an abnormal pattern of the CLL cell response to UV irradiation. Furthermore, we identified defective processing of UV-induced DNA damage in CLL versus normal lymphocytes, particularly in UV-sensitive cases.     

DNA damage and integrity of UV-induced DNA repair in lymphocytes of smokers analysed by the comet assay

DNA damage was assessed in smoker lymphocytes by subjecting them to the single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay. In addition to the appearance of comet tails, smoker cells exhibited enlarged nuclei when analysed by the comet assay. On comparing basal DNA damage among smokers and a non-smoking control group, smoker lymphocytes showed higher basal DNA damage (smokers, 36.25+/-8.45 microm; non-smokers, 21.6+/-2.06 microm). A significant difference in DNA migration lengths was observed between the two groups at 10 min after UV exposure (smokers, 65.5+/-20.34 microm; non-smokers, 79.2+/-11.59 microm), but no significant differences were seen at 30 min after UV exposure (smokers, 21.13+/-10.73 microm; non-smokers, (27.2+/-4.13 microm). The study thus implies that cigarette smoking perhaps interferes with the incision steps of the nucleotide excision repair (NER) process. There appeared be no correlation between the frequency of smoking and DNA damage or the capacity of the cells to repair UV-induced DNA damage that suggests inherited host factors may be responsible for the inter-individual differences in DNA repair capacities. The study also suggests monitoring NER following UV insult using the SCGE assay is a sensitive and simple method to assess DNA damage and integrity of DNA repair in human cells exposed to chemical mutagens.     

In vitro effect of gliclazide on DNA damage and repair in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with elevated level of oxidative stress, which is one of the most important factors responsible for the development of chronic complications of this disease. Moreover, it was shown that diabetic patients had increased level of oxidative DNA damage and decreased effectiveness of DNA repair. These changes may be associated with increased risk of cancer in T2DM patients, since DNA damage and DNA repair play a pivotal role in malignant transformation. It was found that gliclazide, an oral hypoglycemic drug with antioxidant properties, diminished DNA damage induced by free radicals. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the in vitro impact of gliclazide on: (i) endogenous basal and oxidative DNA damage, (ii) DNA damage induced by hydrogen peroxide and (iii) the efficacy of DNA repair of such damage. DNA damage and DNA repair in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 30 T2DM patients and 30 non-diabetic individuals were evaluated by alkaline single cell electrophoresis (comet) assay. The extent of oxidative DNA damage was assessed by DNA repair enzymes: endonuclease III and formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase. The endogenous basal and oxidative DNA damages were higher in lymphocytes of T2DM patients compared to non-diabetic subjects and gliclazide decreased the level of such damage. The drug significantly decreased the level of DNA damage induced by hydrogen peroxide in both groups. Gliclazide increased the effectiveness of DNA repair in lymphocytes of T2DM patients (93.4% (with gliclazide) vs 79.9% (without gliclazide); P< or =0.001) and non-diabetic subjects (95.1% (with gliclazide) vs 90.5% (without gliclazide); P< or =0.001). These results suggest that gliclazide may protect against the oxidative stress-related chronic diabetes complications, including cancer, by decreasing the level of DNA damage induced by reactive oxygen species.     

Factors contributing to chromosome damage in lymphocytes of cigarette smokers

Cigarette smoking is generally believed to be responsible for a substantial number of human health problems. However, the causal relationship between smoking, the induction of biological effects and the extent of health problems among smokers have not been fully documented. Using the recently developed lymphocyte micronucleus (MN) assay, we have evaluated the chromosome aberration frequencies in 67 cigarette smokers and 59 matched non-smoking control subjects. We found that the mean MN frequency (per 100 cells) in the smokers was slightly higher than that found in the non-smokers (0.71 +/- 0.23 and 0.58 +/- 0.05 respectively; p less than 0.08). Factors which contribute to the expression of chromosome aberrations were also investigated. A significant age-dependent increase in MN frequencies was observed in both groups (p less than 0.05). Linear regression analysis showed that the age-dependent effects among smokers (r = 0.54; p less than 0.02) was further enhanced by cigarette consumption (r = 0.62; p less than 0.005). Consumption of low potency 'one-a-day' type multivitamins had no effect on MN frequencies in either sex of non-smokers and in the 1 male smoker who took multivitamins but vitamin intake consistently reduced the MN frequencies among female smokers. Using a challenge assay, fidelity of DNA repair was evaluated. Lymphocytes from both smokers and non-smokers were irradiated with single doses of 0 or 100 cGy of X-rays or with double doses of 100 cGy of X-rays each separated by 15 or 60 min (100/15 or 100/60). Chromosome translocation frequencies were consistently higher after irradiation in lymphocytes from smokers than in those from non-smokers. Statistically significant differences were detected when the cells were irradiated with the double doses of 100 cGy X-rays each separated by 60 min (p less than 0.05). These data suggest that lymphocytes from smokers made more mistakes in the repair of DNA damage than cells from non-smokers. Our studies provide new insights into the genotoxic effects of cigarette smoke and new information which may be useful for understanding the mechanisms for induction of health problems from smoking.     

A simple technique for quantitation of low levels of DNA damage in individual cells

Human lymphocytes were either exposed to X-irradiation (25 to 200 rads) or treated with H2O2 (9.1 to 291 microM) at 4 degrees C and the extent of DNA migration was measured using a single-cell microgel electrophoresis technique under alkaline conditions. Both agents induced a significant increase in DNA migration, beginning at the lowest dose evaluated. Migration patterns were relatively homogeneous among cells exposed to X-rays but heterogeneous among cells treated with H2O2. An analysis of repair kinetics following exposure to 200 rads X-rays was conducted with lymphocytes obtained from three individuals. The bulk of the DNA repair occurred within the first 15 min, while all of the repair was essentially complete by 120 min after exposure. However, some cells demonstrated no repair during this incubation period while other cells demonstrated DNA migration patterns indicative of more damage than that induced by the initial irradiation with X-rays. This technique appears to be sensitive and useful for detecting damage and repair in single cells.     

5-氮胞苷对贵州小型猪淋巴细胞DNA损伤及修复的影响

目的　研究贵州小型猪淋巴细胞对化学物或药物引起的DNA损伤及修复影响的反应。方法　用单细胞凝胶电泳技术检测比较 5 氮胞苷对PHA刺激和未刺激淋巴细胞的DNA损伤及其修复过程。结果　 5 氮胞苷引起未刺激淋巴细胞明显的DNA泳动 (彗星尾 ) ,经修复孵育 2h后 ,DNA泳动与孵育前比较无显著差异 ,而 5 氮胞苷引起的刺激细胞DNA泳动经 2h修复孵育后与孵育前比较显著减少。结论　 5 氮胞苷引起贵州小型猪未刺激淋巴细胞DNA损伤经 2h孵育未能修复 ,而刺激细胞的DNA损伤明显修复。     

Comparative study of DNA damage and repair in head and neck cancer after radiation treatment

We compared DNA damage and the efficacy of its repair after genotoxic treatment with γ-radiation of lymphocytes and tissue cells isolated from patients with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (HNSCC) and healthy donors. Thirty-seven subjects with HNSCC and 35 healthy donors were enrolled in the study. The extent of DNA damage including oxidative lesions and efficiency of the repair were examined by alkaline comet assay. HNSCC cancer cells were more sensitive to genotoxic treatment and displayed impaired DNA repair. In particular, lesions caused by γ-radiation were repaired less effectively in metastasis of HNSCC than in healthy controls. The differences in radiation sensitivity of cancer and control cells suggested that DNA repair might be critical for HNSCC treatment. We conclude that γ-radiation might be considered as an effective therapeutic strategy for head and neck cancers, including patients in advanced stage of the disease with clear evidence of metastasis.     

Interindividual differences in initial DNA repair capacity when evaluating H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript>-induced DNA damage in extended-term cultures of human lymphocytes using the comet assay

It has been suggested that extended-term cultures of human lymphocytes could be used as a complement to cell lines based on transformed cells when testing the genotoxicity of chemicals. To investigate whether the pattern of induced DNA damage and its subsequent repair differs significantly between cultures based on different blood donors, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced DNA damage was measured in cultures from four different subjects using the comet assay. The DNA damage was significantly increased in all cultures after 10 min exposure to 0.25 mmol/L H₂O₂, and there was a significant decrease in the H₂O₂-induced DNA damage in all cultures after 30 min of DNA repair. The level of damage varied between the different donors, especially after the repair. Using PCR and DNA sequencing, exon 5 of the p53 gene was sequenced in the lymphocytes from the donors with the lowest and highest residual damage. No such mutation was found. Mouse lymphoma L5178Y cells carrying the p53 mutation in exon 5 were included as a reference. These cells were found to be less sensitive toward the H₂O₂-induced DNA damage, and they were also found to have a rather low DNA repair capacity. The demonstrated variation in H₂O₂-induced DNA damage and DNA repair capacity between the cultures from the different subjects may be important from a risk assessment perspective, but is obviously not of decisive importance when it comes to the development of a routine assay for genotoxicity.     

DNA damage and integrity of UV-induced DNA repair in lymphocytes of smokers analysed by the comet assay

DNA damage was assessed in smoker lymphocytes by subjecting them to the single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay. In addition to the appearance of comet tails, smoker cells exhibited enlarged nuclei when analysed by the comet assay. On comparing basal DNA damage among smokers and a non-smoking control group, smoker lymphocytes showed higher basal DNA damage (smokers, 36.25±8.45 μm; non-smokers, 21.6±2.06 μm). A significant difference in DNA migration lengths was observed between the two groups at 10 min after UV exposure (smokers, 65.5±20.34 μm; non-smokers, 79.2±11.59 μm), but no significant differences were seen at 30 min after UV exposure (smokers, 21.13±10.73 μm; non-smokers, (27.2±4.13 μm). The study thus implies that cigarette smoking perhaps interferes with the incision steps of the nucleotide excision repair (NER) process. There appeared be no correlation between the frequency of smoking and DNA damage or the capacity of the cells to repair UV-induced DNA damage that suggests inherited host factors may be responsible for the inter-individual differences in DNA repair capacities. The study also suggests monitoring NER following UV insult using the SCGE assay is a sensitive and simple method to assess DNA damage and integrity of DNA repair in human cells exposed to chemical mutagens.     

Exposure to environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: influences on cellular susceptibility to DNA damage (sampling Kosice and Sofia)

The aim of this study was to investigate a possible influence of occupational exposure to carcinogenic environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (c-PAHs) on cellular susceptibility to the induction of the DNA damage. Monitoring was performed and blood samples were collected from two groups of male subjects: occupationally exposed and matched controls. The group exposed to c-PAHs (average age of 35.1 years) consisted of 52 policemen from Košice and 26 policemen and 25 bus drivers (51 altogether) from Sofia. The control group (average age of 36.4 years) consisted of 54 unexposed subjects from Košice and 24 from Sofia. In the investigated groups 52.5% of exposed subjects and 45.3% of control were current smokers. A challenging dose of X-rays (3 Gy) and an alkaline version of the single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay, known as Comet assay, were used to evaluate levels of induced DNA damage and repair kinetics in isolated human blood lymphocytes. DNA damage detected in lymphocytes prior to or after irradiation did not differ significantly between exposed and unexposed subjects. A significant decrease in repair efficiency due to exposure to PAHs was observed in the exposed individuals from Košice and Sofia, when analysed separately or together. A negative influence of tobacco smoking on the efficiency of DNA repair was observed. Statistically significant differences were found between subgroups stratified according to education level in Sofia: the half times for DNA repair declined with the increasing level of education. These results confirm that environmental exposure to c-PAHs can alter the ability of blood lymphocytes to repair DNA damage and, as a result could potentially lead to effects that are hazardous to human health.     

Mitochondrial DNA ligase III function is independent of Xrcc1

Hamster EM9 cells, which lack Xrcc1 protein, have reduced levels of DNA ligase III and are defective in nuclear base excision repair. The Xrcc1 protein stabilizes DNA ligase III and may even play a direct role in catalyzing base excision repair. Since DNA ligase III is also thought to function in mitochondrial base excision repair, it seemed likely that mitochondrial DNA ligase III function would also be dependent upon Xrcc1. However, several lines of evidence indicate that this is not the case. First, western blot analysis failed to detect Xrcc1 protein in mitochondrial extracts. Second, DNA ligase III levels present in mitochondrial protein extracts from EM9 cells were indistinguishable from those seen in similar extracts from wild-type (AA8) cells. Third, the mitochondrial DNA content of both cell lines was identical. Fourth, EM9 cells displayed no defect in their ability to repair spontaneous mitochondrial DNA damage. Fifth, while EM9 cells were far more sensitive to the cytotoxic effects of ionizing radiation due to a defect in nuclear DNA repair, there was no apparent difference in the ability of EM9 and AA8 cells to restore their mitochondrial DNA to pre-irradiation levels. Thus, mitochondrial DNA ligase III function is independent of the Xrcc1 protein.     

Repair of mitomycin C cross-linked DNA in mammalian cells measured by a host cell reactivation assay

DNA repair capacity in a cell could be detected by a host-cell reactivation assay (HCR). Since relation between DNA repair and genetic susceptibility to cancer remains unclear, it is necessary to identify DNA repair defects in human cancer cells. To assess DNA repair for breast cancer susceptibility, we developed a modified HCR assay using a plasmid containing a firefly luciferase gene damaged by mitomycin C (MMC), which forms interstrand cross-link (ICL) adducts. In particular, interstrand cross-link is thought to induce strand breaks being repaired by homologous recombination. The MMC-ICLs were verified by electrophoresis. Damaged plasmids were transfected into apparently normal human lymphocytes and NER-deficient XP cell lines and the DNA repair capacity of the cells were measured by quantifying the activity of the firefly luciferase. MMC lesion was repaired as much as UV adducts in normal lymphocytes and the XPC cells. However, the XPA cells have a lower repair capacity for MMC lesion than the XPC cell, indicating that the XPA protein may be involved in initial damage recognition of MMC-ICL adducts. Since several repair pathways including NER and recombination participate in MMC-ICL removal, this host cell reactivation assay using MMC-ICLs can be used in exploring DNA repair defects in human cancer cells.     

Detection of DNA damage and repair by alkaline elution using human lymphocytes

The repair of DNA alkylation damage in human cells is poorly understood. We have adapted the alkaline elution technique for use with human peripheral blood lymphocytes in culture. We have also established conditions necessary for short-term culture of human lymphocytes. Lymphocyte growth which can be maintained for up to 30 days is dependent upon irradiated TK6 feeder cells and T-cell growth factor (crude TCGF). The amount of damage induced by a given concentration of methyl methane-sulfonate (MMS) is dependent upon cell number per ml of growth medium. The DNA damage measured, in lymphocytes, by alkaline elution is a composite of single strand breaks and alkali-labile lesions. Repair of this damage after appropriate recovery periods is also detectable. The irradiated feeder TK6 cells do not contribute to the number of strand breaks detected or the amount of recovery after treatment. This method offers a quick and reproducible means of detecting DNA damage and repair in human T-lymphocytes.     

Sensitivity to X-irradiation of peripheral blood lymphocytes from ageing donors

The proliferation of human blood lymphocytes from ageing donors, responding to concanavalin A, showed greater sensitivity to inhibition by X-rays than similar cells from younger donors. This increased sensitivity was associated with deficiency in repair of X-ray-induced damage to nuclear material, as measured by density in sucrose gradients, and with increased incidence of chromosomal damage following exposure of freshly isolated lymphocytes. There was also an increased frequency of spontaneous chromosomal aberrations in ageing subjects whose lymphocytes were deficient in repair of DNA damage.     

DNA Repair and the Evolution of Transformation in Bacillus Subtilis. II. Role of Inducible Repair

In Bacillus subtilis, DNA repair and recombination are intimately associated with competence, the physiological state in which the bacterium can bind, take up and recombine exogenous DNA. Previously, we have shown that the homologous DNA transformation rate (ratio of transformants to total cells) increases with increasing UV dosage if cells are transformed after exposure to UV radiation (UV-DNA), whereas the transformation rate decreases if cells are transformed before exposure to UV (DNA-UV). In this report, by using different DNA repair-deficient mutants, we show that the greater increase in transformation rate in UV-DNA experiments than in DNA-UV experiments does not depend upon excision repair or inducible SOS-like repair, although certain quantitative aspects of the response do depend upon these repair systems. We also show that there is no increase in the transformation rate in a UV-DNA experiment when repair and recombination proficient cells are transformed with nonhomologous plasmid DNA, although the results in a DNA-UV experiment are essentially unchanged by using plasmid DNA. We have used din operon fusions as a sensitive means of assaying for the expression of genes under the control of the SOS-like regulon in both competent and noncompetent cell subpopulations as a consequence of competence development and our subsequent experimental treatments. Results indicate that the SOS-like system is induced in both competent and noncompetent subpopulations in our treatments and so should not be a major factor in the differential response in transformation rate observed in UV-DNA and DNA-UV treatments. These results provide further support to the hypothesis that the evolutionary function of competence is to bring DNA into the cell for use as template in the repair of DNA damage.     

Damage formation and repair efficiency in the p53 gene of cell lines and blood lymphocytes assayed by multiplex long quantitative polymerase chain reaction

We examined ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and cisplatin treatment damage formation and repair efficiency in the p53 tumor suppressor gene of various cultured cell lines and lymphocytes using a nonradioactive multiplex long quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) assay, which amplified a 7-kb fragment of the target gene and a 500-bp fragment of the template control to successfully increase the sensitivity and reliability of the assay. The multiplex long QPCR detected a lesion frequency of 0.63 lesions/10kb/10J/m(2) in the p53 gene of fibroblast cells. In addition, the multiplex long QPCR assay detected pronounced differences in the repair of UV damage in the p53 gene among repair-proficient CRL-1475 cells and repair-deficient XP-A and XP-C cells. The multiplex long QPCR assay was also evaluated as a sensitive assay for the detection of DNA damage induced by cisplatin. The data indicated that the lesion frequency in the p53 gene was 1.27-1.75 times higher in the H23 cisplatin-sensitive cell than in the H1435 cisplatin-resistant cell at the IC(70) dose. After 8-h and 24-h repair periods, only 13 and 75% of cisplatin-induced damage had been removed in the H23 cells, whereas these values were 92 and 100% in the H1435 cells. In addition, our data indicate that multiplex long QPCR is a sensitive method for validly estimating repair in freshly isolated lymphocytes. The results suggest that the current protocol of the multiplex long QPCR method can be used to assess the damage formation and repair efficiency of various agents at biologically relevant doses and to allow a more precise determination of gene-specific repair in disease susceptibility and drug resistance in epidemiological studies.     

Basal, oxidative and alkylative DNA damage, DNA repair efficacy and mutagen sensitivity in breast cancer

Impaired DNA repair may fuel up malignant transformation of breast cells due to the accumulation of spontaneous mutations in target genes and increasing susceptibility to exogenous carcinogens. Moreover, the effectiveness of DNA repair may contribute to failure of chemotherapy and resistance of breast cancer cells to drugs and radiation. The breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are involved in DNA repair. To evaluate further the role of DNA repair in breast cancer we determined: (1) the kinetics of removal of DNA damage induced by hydrogen peroxide and the anticancer drug doxorubicin, and (2) the level of basal, oxidative and alkylative DNA damage before and during/after chemotherapy in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of breast cancer patients and healthy individuals. The level of DNA damage and the kinetics of DNA repair were evaluated by alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay). Oxidative and alkylative DNA damage were assayed with the use of DNA repair enzymes endonuclease III (Endo III) and formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase (Fpg), recognizing oxidized DNA bases and 3-methyladenine-DNA glycosylase II (AlkA) recognizing alkylated bases. We observed slower kinetics of DNA repair after treatment with hydrogen peroxide and doxorubicin in lymphocytes of breast cancer patients compared to control individuals. The level of basal, oxidative and alkylative DNA damage was higher in breast cancer patients than in the control and the difference was more pronounced when patients after chemotherapy were engaged, but usually the level of DNA damage in these patients was too high to be measured with our system. Our results indicate that peripheral blood lymphocytes of breast cancer patients have more damaged DNA and display decreased DNA repair efficacy. Therefore, these features can be considered as risk markers for breast cancer, but the question whether they are the cause or a consequence of the illness remains open. Nevertheless, our results suggest that research on the mutagen sensitivity and efficacy of DNA repair could impact the development of new diagnostic and screening strategies as well as indicate new targets to prevent and cure cancer. Moreover, the comet assay may be applied to evaluate the suitability of a particular mode of chemotherapy to a particular cancer patient.     

DNA repair replication,DNA breaks and sister-chromatid exchange in human cells treated with adriamycin in vitro

The effects of adriamycin (AM) on DNA repair replication, the frequency of sister-chromatid exchange (SCE), the rate of cell proliferation and the frequency of DNA strand breaks were studied in human cells in vitro. No repair replication was observed in lymphocytes exposed to AM in concentrations up to 10^?3 moles/1. DNA repair replication induced by UV and alkylating agents was not affected by a concentration of AM that completely inhibited cell proliferation (10^?6 moles/1).Fibroblasts exposed to AM at 10^?4 moles/1 in the presence of hydroxyurea showed an increase of strand breaks and cross-links in DNA. When AM was added to UV-irradiated fibroblasts, there was an increase of DNA strand breaks in addition to the breaks caused by UV alone. Similar effects were observed in lymphocytes.A dose-dependent increase of SCE was observed in lymphocytes exposed to low concentrations of AM (<10^?7 moles/1). At higher concentrations the increase of SCE levelled off, and cell proliferation became severely inhibited. There was no evidence of removal of SCE-inducing damage in cells exposed to AM during G₀ or G₁. The level of SCE induced in the third cell cycle after treatment with AM was not different from that induced during the first two cell cycles.These results suggest that the various genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of AM are caused by different types of cellular damage. Moreover, AM-induced DNA damage persists for several cell cycles in human cells in vitro and seems to be resistant to repair activity.