Chromosome aberration dosimetry using human lymphocytes in simulated partial body irradiation

The effect of X-irradiation on the yield of transformed cells in culture has been studied in human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Aberration yields are obtained for mixed cultures prepared from equal numbers of normal and irradiated lymphocytes and from pure cultures of irradiated cells. Comparison of data from these two types of culture show that the observed yield ranges from 90% of the expected at 50 rad to 11% at 700 rad. Poisson analysis demonstrates that for all doses, cells with high levels of chromosome structural damage are not selectively eliminated.