Use of computer TV morphodensitometry to study epigenetic changes in blood lymphocytes from children affected by low-dose irradiation.

A novel method, computer TV morphodensitometry, was used to evaluate the effects of low-dose irradiation on peripheral blood lymphocytes from children affected by the Chernobyl disaster. This method uses digitized images to detect and measure changes in chromatin shape and density and to produce two-dimensional and three-dimensional pictures. Images can then be stored to create a video archive. This method is sensitive enough to observe subtle changes in chromatin structure that previously could be detected only by more detailed molecular analyses. In this study, lymphocyte interphase nuclei in DNA-stained blood smears from children subjected to chronic low-dose irradiation were examined by computer TV morphodensitometry. Preliminary data indicate that circulating lymphocytes from children exposed to radiation may contain significant alterations in the structure and/or density of nuclear chromatin.