title: Effects of sublethal irradiation with helium ions (300 MeV/nucleon) on basic hematological parameters of mice.
abstract: The aim of the experiment was to obtain new knowledge on the biological effectiveness of high-energy (300 MeV/nucleon) helium ions, which represent a part of the spectrum of cosmic rays. Male (CBA x C57BL)F1 mice, 4 months old, were exposed to a dose of 4 Gy helium ions (exposure rate 0.05 Gy/min). As a comparative standard irradiation the same dose of 4 Gy of 137Cs gamma-rays (exposure rate 0.07 Gy/min) was used. Material sampling was performed 6-8 h, 4 days and 9 days after irradiation for both experimental groups mentioned above. There were 7 animals in each group including the control group of non-irradiated mice. Eight basic hematological parameters of peripheral blood, bone marrow, spleen and thymus were studied. On day 4 after the irradiation with helium ions, the values of leukocyte counts in peripheral blood, bone marrow cellularity and spleen cellularity were reduced to about 10% of the respective control values while the decline after irradiation with gamma-rays amounted to about 50%. These and other results presented reflect a high relative biological effectiveness of 300 MeV/nucleon helium ions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hofer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Viklicka
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Gerasimenko
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Kabachenko
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003359:Cosmic Radiation; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000528:radiation effects; D005720:Gamma Rays; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000528:radiation effects; D006371:Helium; D006413:Hematopoietic System / Q000528:radiation effects*; D007477:Ions; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000528:radiation effects; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000528:radiation effects; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000528:radiation effects; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D006371:Helium