Differential radio-sensitivities of human chromosomes 1 and 2 in one donor in interphase- and metaphase-spreads after 60Co gamma-irradiation

Multiwell-based G0-PCC assay for radiation biodosimetry

In major radiological events, rapid assays to detect ionizing radiation exposure are crucial for effective medical interventions. The purpose of these assays is twofold: to categorize affected individuals into groups for initial treatments, and to provide definitive dose estimates for continued care and epidemiology. However, existing high-throughput cytogenetic biodosimetry assays take about 3 days to yield results, which delays critical interventions. We have developed a multiwell-based variant of the chemical-induced G0-phase Premature Chromosome Condensation Assay that delivers same-day results. Our findings revealed that using a concentration of phosphatase inhibitor lower than recommended significantly increases the yield of cells with highly condensed chromosomes. These chromosomes exhibited increased fragmentation in a dose-dependent manner, enabling to quantify radiation damage using a custom Deep Learning algorithm. This algorithm demonstrated reasonable performance in categorizing doses into distinct treatment groups (84% and 80% accuracy for three and four iso-treatment dose bins, respectively) and showed reliability in determining the actual doses received (correlation coefficient of 0.879). This method is amendable to full automation and has the potential to address the need for same-day, high-throughput cytogenetic test for both dose categorization and dose reconstruction in large-scale radiation emergencies.

G0-PCC-FISH derived multi-parametric biodosimetry methodology for accidental high dose and partial body exposures

High dose radiation exposures are rare. However, medical management of such incidents is crucial due to mortality and tissue injury risks. Rapid radiation biodosimetry of high dose accidental exposures is highly challenging, considering that they usually involve non uniform fields leading to partial body exposures. The gold standard, dicentric assay and other conventional methods have limited application in such scenarios. As an alternative, we propose Premature Chromosome Condensation combined with Fluorescent In-situ Hybridization (G0-PCC-FISH) as a promising tool for partial body exposure biodosimetry. In the present study, partial body exposures were simulated ex-vivo by mixing of uniformly exposed blood with unexposed blood in varying proportions. After G0-PCC-FISH, Dolphin's approach with background correction was used to provide partial body exposure dose estimates and these were compared with those obtained from conventional dicentric assay and G0-PCC-Fragment assay (conventional G0-PCC). Dispersion analysis of aberrations from partial body exposures was carried out and compared with that of whole-body exposures. The latter was inferred from a multi-donor, wide dose range calibration curve, a-priori established for whole-body exposures. With the dispersion analysis, novel multi-parametric methodology for discerning the partial body exposure from whole body exposure and accurate dose estimation has been formulated and elucidated with the help of an example. Dose and proportion dependent reduction in sensitivity and dose estimation accuracy was observed for Dicentric assay, but not in the two PCC methods. G0-PCC-FISH was found to be most accurate for the dose estimation. G0-PCC-FISH has potential to overcome the shortcomings of current available methods and can provide rapid, accurate dose estimation of partial body and high dose accidental exposures. Biological dose estimation can be useful to predict progression of disease manifestation and can help in pre-planning of appropriate & timely medical intervention.

Analysis of the Ambient Particulate Matter-induced Chromosomal Aberrations Using an In Vitro System

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) is a major world health concern, which may damage various cellular components, including the nuclear genetic material. To assess the impact of PM on nuclear genetic integrity, structural chromosomal aberrations are scored in the metaphase spreads of mouse RAW264.7 macrophage cells. PM is collected from ambient air with a high volume total suspended particles sampler. The collected material is solubilized and filtered to retain the water-soluble, fine portion. The particles are characterized for chemical composition by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Different concentrations of particle suspension are added onto an in vitro culture of RAW264.7 mouse macrophages for a total exposure time of 72 hr, along with untreated control cells. At the end of exposure, the culture is treated with colcemid to arrest cells in metaphase. Cells are then harvested, treated with hypotonic solution, fixed in acetomethanol, dropped onto glass slides and finally stained with Giemsa solution. Slides are examined to assess the structural chromosomal aberrations (CAs) in metaphase spreads at 1,000X magnification using a bright-field microscope. 50 to 100 metaphase spread are scored for each treatment group. This technique is adapted for the detection of structural chromosomal aberrations (CAs), such as chromatid-type breaks, chromatid-type exchanges, acentric fragments, dicentric and ring chromosomes, double minutes, endoreduplication, and Robertsonian translocations in vitro after exposure to PM. It is a powerful method to associate a well-established cytogenetic endpoint to epigenetic alterations.

Premature chromosome condensation in human resting peripheral blood lymphocytes without mitogen stimulation for chromosome aberration analysis using specific whole chromosome DNA hybridization probes

We have previously described a unique, simple, and rapid method for inducing premature chromosome condensation (PCC) in "resting" human peripheral blood lymphocytes (HPBLs) without mitogen stimulation and an approach for studying numerical changes and/or structural aberrations involving a specific pair of human chromosomes. The current protocol incorporates improvements that provide better PCC, incorporates a high-throughput automated sample preparation unit and metaphase harvester to minimize manual labor and improve quality, and supports simultaneous painting of multiple sets of human autosomes in interphase nuclei. To induce PCC, isolated HPBLs are incubated at 37 °C in cell culture medium supplemented with a phosphatase inhibitor (okadaic acid or calyculin A), adenosine triphosphate, and p34(cdc2)/cyclin B kinase (an essential component of mitosis-promoting factor) for a short period of time. PCC spreads are prepared on glass slides using a humidity- and temperature-controlled chamber (an auto-spreader) after a brief hypotonic treatment and fixation. Aberrations involving specific sets of painted human chromosome are analyzed using fluorescence microscopy. Each of the normal (undamaged) painted homologous chromosome pairs displays two fluorescent spots, whereas cells with numerical and/or structural aberration involving specific painted chromosome sets show deviation in the number of fluorescent spots. The identification and quantification of aberration involving specific chromosomes in interphase nuclei have important applications in radiobiology, toxicology, radiation therapeutics, and cancer research.