DNA repair following ultraviolet and N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea treatment of cells cultured from human fetal brain, intestine, kidney, liver, and skin.

DNA excision repair was measured in cell cultures derived from human fetal brain, intestine, kidney, liver, and skin following ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) treatment. Cells in early passages were exposed to 5 or 10 J of UV radiation per sq m or to 25 microM to 3.5 mM ENU. DNA excision repair was determined by (a) scintillation counting and autoradiography to measure unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) and (b) the UV-endonuclease-sensitive site assay to measure pyrimidine dimers directly. The level of UDS following treatment of these cell cultures with UV was both time and dose dependent. UDS also increased with increasing doses of ENU up to 350 microM but decreased at doses greater than 500 microM. Cells derived from human fetal brain, kidney, and liver appeared to exhibit lower (50 to 80%) levels of UDS following UV irradiation or ENU treatment than did cells cultured from human fetal skin or intestine. The loss of UV-endonuclease-sensitive sites assayed in skin, liver, and kidney cells over a 24-hr period confirmed the differences observed by UDS in these cells. Skin cells removed 50% of the initial pyrimidine dimers from their DNA within an 8-hr period and 65 to 86% in 24 hr. Kidney and liver cells, on the other hand, removed only 28 and 32% of the initial dimers, respectively, over a 24-hr period. The data suggest differential excision repair responses following UV irradiation and ENU treatment of cells derived from different human fetal organs.