A single-molecule assessment of the protective effect of DMSO against DNA double-strand breaks induced by photo-and gamma-ray-irradiation, and freezing

作者：Noda Masami; Ma Yue; Yoshikawa Yuko; Imanaka Tadayuki; Mori Toshiaki; Furuta Masakazu; Tsuruyama Tatsuaki; Yoshikawa Kenichi

来源：Scientific Reports, 2017, 7(1): 8557.

DOI：10.1038/s41598-017-08894-y

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is widely used as a cryoprotectant for organs, tissues, and cell suspension in storage. In addition, DMSO is known to be a useful free radical scavenger and a radio-protectant. To date, many in vitro assays using cultured cells have been performed for analysing the protective effect of DMSO against genomic DNA damage; however, currently it has been rather difficult to detect DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) in a quantitative manner. In the present study, we aimed to observe the extent of DNA damage by use of single molecular observation with a fluorescence microscope to evaluate DSBs induced by photo- and gamma-ray-irradiation, or freeze/thawing in variable concentrations of DMSO. As a result, we found that 2% DMSO conferred the maximum protective effect against all of the injury sources tested, and these effects were maintained at higher concentrations. Further, DMSO showed a significantly higher protective effect against freezing-induced damage than against photoand gamma-ray-irradiation-induced damage. Our study provides significant data for the optimization of DNA cryopreservation with DMSO, as well as for the usage of DNA as the protective agent against the injuries caused by active oxygen and radiations.

• 出版日期2017-8-17