Abstract
DIRECTLY or indirectly phosphodiester bonds in DNA are broken when living cells are irradiated by ionising radiations or ultraviolet light. There are various sophisticated techniques for monitoring radiation damage1–6. We describe here how radiation damage in DNA and its repair can be detected simply in the white cells of human blood. The method is very sensitive and should prove useful in screening populations for abnormal repair mechanisms. As there is also great interest in methods for detecting environmental agents that damage DNA2,7, we have applied the method to detect the damage caused by mitomycin C.
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COOK, P., BRAZELL, I. Detection and repair of single-strand breaks in nuclear DNA. Nature 263, 679–682 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263679a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/263679a0
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