Cancerigens or radiation action on chromatin determined by spectrofluorimetric methods

Abstract

Steady state and time resolved fluorescence and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) methods were used in the determination of cancerigens or radiation action on chromatin -- the complex of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with proteins, that exists in eukaryotic cells nuclei. The results indicated modifications in general chromatin structure, DNA strand breaks with the reduction of the double helix DNA proportion (for radiation action) or the growth of the proportion of available DNA for ligand binding (in cancerigens action), proteins structure destruction and an increase of acidic proteins proportion on cancerigens action. The action of other physical or chemical agents may be analyzed by these high performance optical methods.