Influence of cell environment on micronucleation in Chinese hamster ovary cells

The irradiation of cells in culture is an essential part of many radiation biology experiments. Since these experiments necessarily involve the irradiation of cell culture vessels and nutrient medium, the possibility of effects due to the interactions of irradiated material with growing cells needed to be investigated.
In the present study the micronucleus frequency in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells as a function of such parameters as type of radiation, type of cell substrate, changes in cell environment, and time course of the effect were characterized. Observations of the persistence of micronucleus formation in irradiated CHO cells reveal that the number of cells containing micronuclei reaches its maximum within nine hours after irradiation and remain elevated for at least five days. The influence of the cell environment on micronucleus formation in CHO cells was examined by plating cells in preirradiated nutrient medium or on preirradiated cell culture vessels. In all experiments, pre-irradiation of the cell substrate (the culture dish or culture dish filled with medium) led to a significantly higher micronucleus frequency than when cells were plated on un-irradiated substrate. The difference is most pronounced at the lowest doses examined. These results suggest that methods of cell culture vessel sterilization and the composition of cell attachment surfaces could be confounding factors, particularly in the experiments which are intended to examine the response of cells exposed to low doses of ionizing radiation.