Ionizing radiation-induced DNA double-strand break and repair assessed by γ-H2AX foci analysis in neurons in mice

Objective: To investigate if the γ-H2AX foci is a precise index for the DSB formation and repair in mature neurons of brain in vivo after clinically relevant doses irradiation. Methods: For the DSB formation experiment, the mature neurons in the neocortex of brain tissue of C57BL/6 mice were analyzed at 10 rain after whole-body irradiation with 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 Gy. For the DSB repair kinetics experiment, the mature neurons in the neocortex of brain tissue of repair-proficient (C57BL/6 mice) and repair-deficient mouse strains (BALB/c, A-T and SCID mice) were analyzed at 0.5, 2.5, 5, 24 and 48 h after whole-body irradiation with 2 Gy. The mature neurons in the neocortex of brain tissue of sham-irradiated mice of each strain served as controls. γ-H2AX immunohistochemistry and γ-H2AX and NeuN double immunofluorescence analysis was used to measure DSBs formation and repair in the mature neurons in the neocortex of brain tissue of the different mouse strains. Results: For the DSB formation experiment, γ-H2AX foci levels with a clear linear close correlation and very low backgrounds in the nuclei in the neocortex of brain tissue were observed. Scoring the loss of γ-H2AX foci allowed us to verify the different, genetically determined DSB repair deficiencies, including the minor impairment of BALB/c mice. Repair-proficient C57BL/6 mice exhibited the fastest decrease in foci number with time, and displayed low levels of residual damage at 24 h and 48 h post-irradiation. In contrast, SCID mice showed highly increased γ-H2AX foci levels at all repair times (0.5 h to 48 h) while A-T mice exhibited a lesser defect which was most significant at later repair times (≥ 5 h). Radiosensitive BALB/c mice exhibited slightly elevated foci numbers compared with C57BL/6 mice at 5 h and 24 h but not at 48 h post-irradiation. Conclusion: Quantifying the γ-H2AX foci in normal tissue represents a sensitivie tool for the detection of induction and repair of radiation-induced DSBs at clinically relevant doses in vivo. (authors)