title: A comparison of low and high dose-rate radiation for recipient mice in spleen-colony studies.
abstract: Over the last 15 years, endogenous spleen-colony formation in our mice, following lethal irradiation, has increased to an unacceptable level. It has been found necessary, therefore, to introduce a new method of preparing recipient mice for spleen-colony studies. Irradiation with low dose-rate 60Cobalt gamma rays has been compared with high dose-rate linear accelerator electrons, and their effects on endogenous spleen colony formation compared with earlier X and gamma ray dose-response data. It was found that a large dose (13.5 Gy) of gamma rays results in fewer endogenous colonies than 8.5 Gy of electrons, yet because of its low dose rate (14.1 X 10(-3) Gy/min) it has a marked sparing of the intestinal tissue as measured by the intestinal microcolony technique. This in turn permits better survival and, therefore, a 'healthier' animal for spleen-colony work. Exogenous colony formation is also lower in the low dose-rate, gamma-irradiated recipients and this is shown to be due to a reduced spleen-seeding efficiency. It is concluded that very low dose-rate radiation is preferable for haemopoietic ablation, that a mouse colony requires constant monitoring for changes of endogenous spleen-colony formation and that the spleen-seeding efficiency of CFU-s depends on the irradiation technique used--there is no absolute value for a given strain of mouse.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002452:Cell Count; D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes