The effects of repeated doses of total-body X radiation on motivation and learning in rhesus monkeys.

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Abstract
Repetitive 100 r. doses of total-body X radiation were given every 35 days until death to 12 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Compared with the performance of 11 control animals, the radiated monkeys showed no deficits on complex learning tasks, but significantly fell off in weight gain, appetite, and locomotor activity, with these decreases roughly proportional to the cumulative dose absorbed. Radiated monkeys were superior in performance on two of the learning tests during the later stages of the investigation, possibly as a result of decreased activity and distractibility. The estimation of LD50 was 950r; LD100 was 1200r.[long dash]a dose which is larger than those obtained in single-dose studies. These data suggest that radiation injury is in part reparable and in part irreparable and that administration of divided doses permits subsidence of the reparable injury.

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