This paper presents an analysis of the utility of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with whole-chromosome probes for measurement of the genomic frequency of translocations found in the peripheral blood of individuals exposed to ionizing radiation. First, we derive the equation: Fp = 2.05fp(1-fp)FG, relating the translocation frequency, Fp, measured using FISH to the genomic translocation frequency, FG, where fp is the fraction of the genome covered by the composite probe. We demonstrate the validity of this equation by showing that: (a) translocation detection efficiency predicted by the equation is consistent with experimental data as fp is changed; (b) translocation frequency dose-response curves measured in vitro using FISH agree well with dicentric frequency dose-response curves measured in vitro using conventional cytogenetic procedures; and (c) the genomic translocation frequencies estimated from FISH measurements for 20 Hiroshima A-bomb survivors and four workers exposed to ionizing radiation during the Y-12 criticality accident are approximately the same as the translocation frequencies measured using G-banding. We also show that translocation frequency dose response curves estimated using FISH are similar for Hiroshima A-bomb survivors and for first division lymphocytes irradiated in vitro. We conclude with a discussion of the potential utility of translocation frequency analysis for assessment of the level of acute radiation exposure independent of the time between analysis and exposure.

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This interlaboratory comparison validates the dicentric chromosome assay for assessing radiation dose in mass casualty accidents and identifies the advantages and limitations of an international biodosimetry network. The assay's validity and accuracy were determined among five laboratories following the International Organization for Standardization guidelines. Blood samples irradiated at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute were shipped to all laboratories, which constructed individual radiation calibration curves and assessed the dose to dose-blinded samples. Each laboratory constructed a dose-effect calibration curve for the yield of dicentrics for (60)Co gamma rays in the 0 to 5-Gy range, using the maximum likelihood linear-quadratic model, Y = c + alphaD + betaD(2). For all laboratories, the estimated coefficients of the fitted curves were within the 99.7% confidence intervals (CIs), but the observed dicentric yields differed. When each laboratory assessed radiation doses to four dose-blinded blood samples by comparing the observed dicentric yield with the laboratory's own calibration curve, the estimates were accurate in all laboratories at all doses. For all laboratories, actual doses were within the 99.75% CI for the assessed dose. Across the dose range, the error in the estimated doses, compared to the physical doses, ranged from 15% underestimation to 15% overestimation.

The advent of chromosome painting has brought the realization that structural aberrations can be far more complicated than previously imagined. Various investigators have devised their own nomenclature systems to deal with this difficulty, with the result that the terminology has become inconsistent and confusing. Recently, an international group of cytogeneticists experienced in chromosome painting gathered to address this issue. Results of the meeting are presented in this report, which provides a nomenclature system capable of describing chromosome aberrations that occur between painted and unpainted chromosomes, as well as aberrations involving only painted chromosomes. The nomenclature is flexible enough to describe accurately even the most extensively rearranged chromosomes. As a consequence of this flexibility, the scheme upon which the nomenclature is based differs substantially from other systems of aberration classification. We call this system the Protocol for Aberration Identification and Nomenclature Terminology (PAINT).

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