Impaired cell proliferation in mice that persists across at least two generations after paternal irradiation.
Irradiation of male F0 mice 6 to 7 weeks prior to mating causes significant changes in the proliferation of F1 and F2 embryonic cells. These changes are revealed as a competitive cell proliferation disadvantage in chimera assays when the affected embryo is paired with a normal embryo in an aggregation chimera. This effect has been observed previously to be transmitted to F1 embryos for absorbed doses from 0.01 to 1.0 Gy; 0.01 Gy is about 100-fold lower than detectable using conventional germline mutation assays. However, until now there has been no reported cross-generation heritability. We now report that this competitive cell proliferation disadvantage persists without degradation in the F2 generation of embryos when F0 males received 1.0 Gy from gamma irradiation 6 and 7 weeks prior to conception of F1 males.
Wiley
L M
LM
Institute of Toxicology and Environmental Health, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
Baulch
J E
JE
Raabe
O G
OG
Straume
T
T
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000528:radiation effects; D002455:Cell Division / Q000528:radiation effects; D002678:Chimera; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018812:Paternal Exposure