Radiosensitivity and recovery of mouse L cells during the cell cycle.

Mouse fibroblasts, subline L-929 F were synchronized by mitotic detachment. The synchronized cell cultures were irradiated with 200 kVp X-rays at different time after mitosis, and age response functions and dose effect curves were determined using the colony test. The cell age in the mitotic cycle was obtained from a computer analysis of flow cytometric DNA histograms. Both intrinsic radiosensitivity 1/D0 and extrapolation number n were found to vary during the cell cycle. The D0 has a maximum value of 176 +/- 1 rad in the middle of G1 phase and minimum of 71 +/- 1 rad at the S/G2 transition, while the extrapolation number is rather constant from the beginning of G1 phase (1.9 +/- 0.1) to the middle of S phase (2.3 +/- 0.1) and reaches a steep maximum of 9.3 +/- 1.1 at S/G2 transition. The values of n in the various phases of cell cycle are compared with the respective values of the recovery factor gamma determined after fractionated irradiation. --Cell survival after a single dose of 616 rad has minima for irradiation at G1/S transition and in early G2 phase; the survival in early G2 being about 40 times smaller than in early G1 phase. Implications for a cell cycle specific therapy are discussed.