Studies on Some Radiation-Induced Chromosome Aberrations in Man

It has been reported by Buckton et al. (1), Bender and Gooch (2, 3), Boyd et al. (4), Tough et al. (5), and Sasaki et al. (6) that ionizing radiations induce chromosome aberrations in peripheral leukocytes of man and that the aberrations may persist for years. In the present investigation, chromosome studies were made on peripheral leukocytes taken from persons exposed to atomic bomb radiation more than 17 or 18 years ago in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, from patients under daily radiotherapy after breast cancer surgery, and from radiation personnel who had been exposed to fairly large doses of radiation during a long period of working time. The purposes of the present study are as follows: (1) To determine the types and frequencies of aberrations induced. (2) To find special types of aberrations, if any, which may persist predominantly for a long time and be related to delayed effects of radiation such as carcinogenesis or aging. (3) To test the possibility of developing a new method of biological dosimetry by means of quantitative evaluation of chromosome aberrations.