Effects of extended low-dose-rate exposure to 137Cs detected by flow-cytometric enumeration of micronucleated erythrocytes in mouse peripheral blood.

An automated variant the of micronucleus assay for erythrocytes in mouse peripheral blood has recently been developed. The flow-cytometric technique used allows very large numbers of erythrocytes to be analysed with a relatively small effort. Here we report the potential of this method to detect a response to extended low-dose-rate exposure to gamma-irradiation. The mice were irradiated with a 137Cs source at a dose rate of 4.8 cGy/day for 26 days. Sampling was continued for another 39 days after irradiation. Elevated frequencies compared with the control group were found at days 2, 9 and 20 after the start of the irradiation for micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes, and at days 9, 20, 29, 42, 51 and 65 for micronucleated normochromatic erythrocytes.