Dose-response relationship for the induction of chromosomal abnormalities in gamma-irradiated human spermatozoa

The cytogenetic effects of in vitro irradiation on human spermatozoa have been studied by the interspecific in vitro fertilization system between human sperm and hamster oocytes. Semen samples from three healthy men were irradiated at doses of 0.00, 0.10, 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, and 4.00 Gy. A total of 340 chromosome complements derived from non‐irradiated human spermatozoa and 987 complements from irradiated spermatozoa were analyzed after sequential uniform stain G banding. Both the frequency of spermatozoa with structural chromosome abnormalities, and the incidence of such abnormalities per cell, showed strong dose‐effect relationships that were best expressed by linear‐quadratic equations: Y = 0.06413(±0.00475) + 0.1982(±0.00833)D − 0.00763(±0.00204)D2 and Y = 0.07385(±0.00838) + 0.23329(±0.03124)D + 0.02317(±0.00955)D2, respectively. When analyzing separately unrejoined and rejoined structural abnormalities, we found that the incidence of unrejoined lesions was four times higher than the incidence of rejoined anomalies. The induction of unrejoined abnormalities showed a linear, dose‐dependent increase, whereas the incidence of rejoined abnormalities showed a quadratic, dose‐dependent increase. The distribution of radiation‐induced breakpoints was also analyzed. Breakpoints were found to be randomly distributed among chromosomes, but a clustering of breakpoints in G‐negative bands was found: 71.5% of breakpoints were located in G‐negative bands, and 28.5% in G‐positive bands. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 29:357–366, 1997 © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.