Chromosome dosimetry: The influence of culture media on the proliferation of irradiated and unirradiated human lymphocytes

The proliferation of phytohaemagglutinin stimulated human lymphocytes in four types of synthetic culture medium has been studied using the fluorescence plus Giemsa staining technique to determine cell cycle status. 48 hour cultures of unirradiated cells containing Ham's F10 or RPMI 1640 media yielded significant numbers of second cycle metaphases. Cultures containing Eagle's MEM or TC 199 media, however, required longer incubation times to produce appreciable numbers of second division cells. Intrinsic differences between donors in the rate of proliferation had little effect on the relative ranking of the media. Radiation induced mitotic delay of about 1 hour per Gray was observed for each medium. The relevance of these results to the accuracy of radiation dose estimation by chromosome aberration analysis is discussed.