Reduced incidence of persistent chromosome aberrations in mice irradiated at low dose rates.

A marked difference was observed between the effectiveness of high and low dose rates of ionizing radiation in producing persistent chromosome aberrations in the marrow cells of mice. Clones of cells with chromosome abnormalities were present in the marrow of all the mice previously exposed to single or fractionated doses of x-rays given at a rate of 30 rad/min. The frequency of chromosome aberrations in these mice varied from 14 to 72 percent of the cells exdmined. By contrast, none of the mice exposed to continuous gamma radiation at a low dose rate (1.45 rad/hour) showed definite clones of abnormal marrow cells, and the frequency of persistent chromosome aberrations varied from zero to 8 percent in this group.