Chromosome rearrangements from spermatogonial chronic neutron irradiation in mice

Abstract

Adult male mice were given a range of neutron doses at 80 ± 20 mrad/h from a plutonium-beryllium source. Cytogenetic analysis indicated that chronic spermatogonial exposure to a mean total dose of 10, 30, 52, 98 or 150 rad produced translocations, sampled in spermatocytes four months later, amounting to 0.32, 0.99. 1.69, 1.91 and 1.65%, respectively. The dose response for the 0–52 rad range was linear. For higher doses, a better fit to the data was an expression with dose exponent above unity.