Cell kinetic perturbations after irradiation and caffeine in the BG-1 ovarian carcinoma cell line

The treatment of ovarian carcinoma includes maximum surgical removal of the tumor tissue followed by irradiation or chemotherapy. In this study, the effects of caffeine on cell cycle traverse have been studied over a 168-hr period after X irradiation in BG-1 cells, an ovarian carcinoma cell line. The results were obtained with dual-parameter flow cytometric measurements of DNA and nuclear protein, using propidium iodide and fluorescein isothiocyanate. After radiation alone, a dose-related arrest of cells in G2 phase and cell kill were observed. Irradiating BG-1 cells with 5 Gy produced an accumulation of the cells in G2 at 24–72 hr postirradiation. When G2 was divided into low nuclear protein (G2A) and high nuclear protein (G2B) compartments, there was a G2A peak accumulation at 24 hr and a G2B peak accumulation at 48–72 hr. The addition of 1 m M caffeine to the culture media, starting immediately postirradiation, prevented G2 arrest, promoting a rapid traverse of cells through G2A to G2B to G1, which was associated with diminished survival.