Radioprotective Effect of Hydroxyl Radical Scavengers on Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells Under Various Gamma Irradiation Conditions

Abstract

The influence of various hydroxyl radical scavengers such as methanol, ethanol and dimethyl sulfoxide on radiation sensitivity of prokaryotic cells (bacteria Escherichia coli) and eukaryotic cells (yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and V79 cells—Chinese hamster pulmonary fibroblasts) irradiated by 60Co gamma radiation was investigated. The dependence of radiation sensitivity on dose rate in range from 1.8 to 100 Gy h−1 was evaluated. Survival of cells irradiated by increasing dose rates was followed using clonogenic assay. Specific protective effect was found to be a nonmonotonous function of dose rate with typical maximum at the dose rate range from 50 to 55 Gy h−1 in all studied cell types.