• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2004

Firstly, we compared the two staining techniques, Giemsa and Acridine orange, to determine micronuclei on samples of cultures of five healthy human peripheral blood lymphocytes after ${\gamma}-irradiation\;(^{137}Cs)$ in dose ranges of 0 to 800cGy. It was found that the Acridine orange staining method gives more reliable results than the usual Giemsa staining method in micronucleus tests. Moreover, the frequency of micronuclei in cytokinesis-blocked human B-lymphocytes was studied after in vitro irradiation in dose ranges of 0 to 50cGy. After setting and separating the B-lymphocytes, the frequency of radiation-induced micronuclei were observed as the end-point markers for the low-dose radiation dosimetry after staining with Giemsa and Acridine orange dyes. The micronuclei frequency in B-lymphocytes was significantly elevated from 10 to 30cGy ${\gamma}-irradiation$. The determination of micronuclei in B-lymphocytes after staining with Acridine orange was higher than that of Giemsa. The frequency of micronuclei in B-lymphocytes was observed to be at least two times higher than those of T-lymphocytes Giemsa in dose increasing. Therefore, the determination of low-dose radiation-induced micronuclei in B-lymphocytes after staining with Acridine orange is likely to have the greatest potential in the estimation of low dose radiation exposure.