Biological dosimetry using the micronucleus assay for lymphocytes: interindividual differences in dose response.

The dose response of the number of micronuclei in cytokinesis-blocked lymphocytes after in-vitro irradiation of whole blood with x rays in the dose range 0-4 Gy was studied for a heterogeneous population of 10 donors. One thousand binucleated cells were systematically scored for micronuclei. A linear-quadratic dose dependency of the micronucleus yields was observed. The data were used to derive the accuracy of the dose assessment with the technique in case of a radiation accident. It was shown that for doses of 2 Gy and higher, the uncertainty of the dose was predominantly due to interindividual differences in the x-ray-induced micronucleus yields. At the 95% confidence level, doses lower than 0.3 Gy could not be unequivocally detected with the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus assay due to the variability of the baseline micronucleus frequency within the donor population and the poor statistical accuracy when scoring 1,000 cells. The precision and sensitivity of the method in the low-dose range could be improved by the knowledge of individual pre-irradiation baseline values and an increase of the number of cells scored by automation of the technique.