Unusual dose--response of chromosome abberrations induced in human lymphocytes by very low dose exposures to tritium

Leukocyte cultures of human peripheral blood were chronically exposed for 48 h to tritiated water and 3H]thymidine using a wide range of tritium doses, and aberrations in lymphocyte chromosomes at the first metaphases were examined. In the experimental conditions, the types of aberrations induced by radiation emitted from both tritiated water and 3H]thymidine were mostly chromatid types, such as chromatid gaps and deletions. The dose--response relations for chromatid breaks per cell exhibited unusual dose-dependency in both cases. It was demonstrated that at higher dose range the yields of chromatid breaks increased linearly with dose, while those at lower dose range were significantly higher than would be expected by a downward extrapolation from the linear relation. Partial-hit or partial-target kinetic events appears at very low dose exposure.