Flow cytometry used to study interphase death of thymus, spleen and bone marrow cells of irradiated rats

The flow cytofluorometry of cells stained with a DNA-specific probe was used to determine the share of dying cells (containing less than 2C DNA) in thymus, spleen and bone marrow cells of irradiated rats. The cell death curves for spleen and bone marrow had a plateau by the 6th h, and for thymus, by the 10th h following irradiation with different doses. On the basis of the dose-responce relationship the share of cells dying in the interphase was determined in each organ under study, and dose-responce curves shaped. All the curves had no shoulder. D0 was 3.0, 3.0 and 3.7 Gy for thymus, spleen, and bone marrow cells, respectively