Abstract
It has been already reported that the repair of radiation induced DNA double strand breaks(DNA-dsbs) is inhibited with antimony potassium tartrate(APT), but whether APT induces DNA-dsbs or not is not well known. The effect of APT on DNA was studied in Chinese hamster ovary(CHO) cells and glutathione(GSH)-deficient CHO. CHO cells were treated with APT for 2h. Then DNA-dsb was induced by gamma-irradiation at a dose of 40Gy and the degree of DNA-dsb was determined by gel electrophoresis immediately after irradiation or following 30-min repair period. DNA-dsbs was induced by exposure to 0.8 and 0.02mM APT in normal and GSH-deficient cells, respectively. DNA-dsb repair was completely inhibited by exposure to 0.4 and 0.02mM APT in normal and GSH-deficient cells, respectively. GSH is a radical scavenger and DNA-dsbs was induced by lower concentration of APT in GSH-deficient cells. These results show that antimony is a radical inducer and toxicity of antimony is, in part, derived from DNA-dsbs. [J Radiat Res 44:411 (2003)]
