Repair of radiation damage in noncycling parenchymal hepatocytes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether parenchymal hepatocytes in G₀ are able to repair potentially lethal damage. The survival curve for hepatocytes assayed immediately after X irradiation was found to have an extrapolation number, n, which was not significantly different from unity, and a D₀ equal to 2.7 Gy. In contrast, when irradiated hepatocytes were allowed to remain in situ for 24 h before being assayed for their reproductive survival, the n value significantly increased to 2.3, whereas the D₀ value remains unchanged. But parenchymal hepatocytes are able to repair potentially lethal damage and it is expressed exclusively as an increase in the extrapolation number.