DNA damage in ultraviolet-irradiated HeLa and CHO-Kl cells examined by alkaline lysis and hydroxyapatite chromatography.

DNA damage and repair activity have been examined in cultured mammalian cells by the technique of alkaline lysis followed by analysis of the single-strand content of DNA by hydroxyapatite chromatography; the rate of unwinding of DNA in alkali is related to the number of single-strand breaks present. When HeLa cells are ultraviolet-irradiated and incubated, on subsequent alkaline lysis the DNA unwinds at a faster rate than the DNA of unirradiated cells. The rate is increased if inhibitors of DNA synthesis (hydroxyurea, deoxyadenosine or 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl cytosine) are present during the incubation. Similar effects are seen in CHO-Kl cells synchronised in G1 phase, though mitotic CHO-Kl cells show little effect of post-irradiation incubation or of the presence of inhibitors. It appears that agents known to block replicative DNA synthesis can also inhibit repair DNA synthesis following ultraviolet irradiation, leading to an accumulation of single-strand breaks in DNA produced by repair nuclease activity. This phenomenon is probably responsible for the retarded sedimentation of such DNA on alkaline sucrose gradients.