Determination of the survival of yeast and bacteria under the influence of gamma or UV radiation in the presence of some scavengers of OH radicals

Two new methods for quantitative determination of the role of scavengers of OH radicals in the radiation protection of various microorganisms were studied. The yeast and bacteria were irradiated with gamma or UVC radiations having quite different effect on living cells. Both methods based on the counting of colonies arising from surviving cells proved to be able to describe quantitatively the protective effect of scavengers. The described method may be helpful for study of the radiation protection of cells, radiation stability of DNA or the permeability of the cell membrane.