[The repair of DNA damage induced in human lymphocytes by gamma rays and fast neurons].

When Go human lymphocytes are exposed either to gamma-rays or to d(50)-Be neutrons and then immediately incubated in presence of cytosine arabinoside, the frequency of chromosomal aberrations which is normally observed after radiation exposure only is sharply increased. This enhancement of the aberrations, particularly the dicentrics, is, however, less marked when cytosine arabinoside is administered at longer intervals of time after irradiation. For gamma-rays, the treatment with cytosine arabinoside has no effect on the dicentrics yield when given 5 h after irradiation, indicating that the repair is completed within the 5 h after irradiation and that the lesions are not anymore available to produce exchange aberrations. For d(50)-Be neutrons, the time of repair takes approximately 5 h after a dose of 2.0 Gy, whereas it appears to be shorter (3 h) after a dose of 0.5 Gy.