Effects of prenatal exposure to low-dose beta radiation from tritiated water on the neurobehavior of mice.

Pregnant adult C57BL/6J mice, randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups, 3 of them were irradiated with beta-rays from tritiated water (HTO) by a single intraperitoneal injection on the 12.5th day of gestation. Their offspring received cumulative doses of 0, 5, 10 or 30 cGy in utero. Male pups were trained and examined using a set of behavioral tests that included avoidance acquisition and avoidance maintenance, open field test, hole-board dipping, a water maze, and a food labyrinth. Results were found for most parameters in the 10 and 30 cGy groups that differed significantly from results for the controls, indicating that the behavioral teratogenic effect of prenatal exposure to chronic beta-ray radiation from HTO may be greater than the same dose of acute X- or gamma-irradiation and that 10 cGy may be the lowest detectable dose level at which behavioral changes is detactable under the conditions used in this experiment.