Comparison of type and frequency of chromosome aberrations by conventional and G-staining methods in Hiroshima atomic bomb survivors

Somatic chromosomes derived from cultured lymphocytes of 23 atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima were analyzed to determine the type and frequency of radiation-induced structural aberrations, using in sequence the ordinary staining method (O-method) and the trypsin G-banding method (G-method). Of 896 cells examined, 342 were found to contain induced aberrations, including 31 cells in which the precise identification of the type of aberrations was not possible even by the G-method. The number of chromosome aberrations observed was 376 in the 311 cells where aberrant precise identification was possible. The majority (288 or 76.6%) were intra- or inter-chromosomal symmetric exchanges due to a two-break event, while only 24 were found to be asymmetric exchanges (dicentrics, rings, and interstitial deletions). Further, there were 28 aberrations showing acentric fragments and terminal deletions, and the remaining 36 were complex intra- and inter-chromosomal exchanges involving three or more breaks which result in insertions and double translocations. A comparative karyotype analysis of the same metaphases examined by the sequential 0- And G-methods was carried out independently on 361 aberrations, mostly of the symmetric type. It was found that 78 (21.6%) of the 361 were detected only by the G-method; among these were 14 paracentric inversions, 48 reciprocal interchanges of chromosome segments with either equal length (11) or unequal length (37), 14 minor deletions and 2 complex rearrangements, all of which were nevertheless judged to fall within the normal range of variation by theO-method. In contrast, 25 aberrations detected in O-method chromosomes which were overcontracted or twisted, were shown to have normal banding patterns by the G-method. (author)