Different repair kinetics of radiation-induced DNA lesions in human and murine white blood cells

Exposure of cells to ionizing radiation gives rise to DNA damage, comprising strand breaks and base modifications. All these lesions may contribute to cell death, mutagenesis and/or carcinogenesis, but their relative contributions are likely to be different. It is important, therefore, to study the various damages with respect to their abundance and persistence. To detect radiation-induced DNA damage, the alkaline-elution technique was applied