Alpha-irradiation of haemopoietic tissue in pre- and postnatal mice: 2. Effects of mid-term contamination with 239Pu in utero.
Affiliation
CRC Department of Experimental Haematology, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester, UK.Issue Date
1992-03
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The distribution of 239Pu in various tissues of foetal and postnatal offspring of pregnant mice, injected i.v. at 13 days gestation with 30 kBq 239Pu/kg (in some cases with 10 or 100 kBq/kg), together with the numbers of haemopoietic progenitors in the bone marrow, spleen and liver, were measured through to 1 year post-partum. The quality of the haemopoietic microenvironment in these mice was also measured using the renal-capsule implant method. The largest radiation dose received by any haemopoietic organ was that in the liver, amounting to 10-14 mGy, as reported previously. In spite of normal numbers of haemopoietic spleen colony-forming cells (CFC-S) in the liver and seeding, at birth, into the bone marrow where the level of plutonium was minimal, a long-term deficit in their number rapidly developed. The development of the stromal microenvironment, however, was also deficient, suggesting that the dose of alpha-irradiation to the foetal liver was sufficient to cause sublethal damage in those cells destined to become the precursors of the supportive haemopoietic microenvironment in bone marrow and spleen. The results of this study suggest that although the placenta affords significant shielding to the tissues of the developing foetus from maternal contamination, the long-term effects on haemopoiesis are comparable to those in mice contaminated as adults. This further implies that the developing haemopoietic tissues are exquisitely sensitive to 239Pu contamination.Citation
Alpha-irradiation of haemopoietic tissue in pre- and postnatal mice: 2. Effects of mid-term contamination with 239Pu in utero. 1992, 61 (3):393-403 Int. J. Radiat. Biol.Journal
International Journal of Radiation BiologyDOI
10.1080/09553009214551091PubMed ID
1347073Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0955-3002ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/09553009214551091