Chromosomal aberrations induced by in vitro irradiation: comparisons between human sperm and lymphocytes.

Types and frequencies of structural aberrations in human sperm and lymphocyte chromosomes from one donor were compared after in vitro irradiation with 100, 200, and 400 rad in order to determine if cells with dramatically different chromatin configurations are similarly affected and to investigate the feasibility of using lymphocytes as surrogates for germ cells in risk estimation. Sperm chromosomes were analyzed after fusion with eggs from the golden hamster. Total frequencies of induced aberrations were similar in the two cell types. However, the relative frequencies of rejoined lesions (dicentrics), compared with unrejoined lesions (chromosome breaks and acentric fragments), were different. At the three doses tested, a constant ratio of 5 dicentrics in lymphocytes for every dicentric in sperm was induced. Conversely, for every chromosome break or acentric fragment induced in lymphocytes, 1.7 such events were induced in sperm at the three doses tested.