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Cellular glutathione is a key to the oxygen effect in radiation damage

Nature volume 271, pages 660–662 (1978)Cite this article

Abstract

OXYGEN is known to enhance biological changes induced by ionising radiation1,2. The changes include chromosome breaks in Tradescantia3 mutation production in Drosophila, maize and bacteria3–6, and rate of mitosis in grasshopper neuroblasts7. The biological and physical bases for the various enhancements remain obscure, and it has not yet been established that they are the result of a common mechanism. The quantitative aspects of the relationship between oxygen concentration and radiation response have been measured: for example, killing of Escherichia coli by X-ray radiation at a constant radiation dose8 and various interpretations of the quantitative aspects of the response base have been made9–12. Ionising radiation has been proposed to interact with water to produce several products and these products interact with cellular material to produce the biological effects observed. In the reactions proposed, cellular sulphydryl groups are supposed to be a primary cellular constituent which is reactive with the radiation products from water. We report here that one major cellular sulphydryl constituent, glutathione (GSH), is apparently the major component in the interaction between radiation products and the cell, for cells unable to synthesise glutathione cannot be protected against killing by ionising radiation by reduction of the external oxygen concentration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Webb Waring Lung Institute, and Department of Biophysics and Genetics, University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, 80262

    M. L. MORSE & ROLF H. DAHL

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  1. M. L. MORSE
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  2. ROLF H. DAHL
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MORSE, M., DAHL, R. Cellular glutathione is a key to the oxygen effect in radiation damage. Nature 271, 660–662 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271660a0

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