Fetal X-Irradiation and Fertility.

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Abstract
Ten pregnant Swiss mice were X-irradiated to 50r for each of 6 days beginning on the 14th day, resulting in a total exposure of the fetuses to 300r for the final 6 days before delivery. This is equivalent to an extended fluoroscopic examination but it did not alter the viability of the fetuses. Offspring of the exptl. and an equivalent number of control mice were weaned and the sexes kept separate beginning at 4 weeks of age. All surviving mice were tested for fertility at 6 months of age. All control offspring were fertile but only 5 of 27 exptl. males and 9 of 13 exptl. females were fertile; 2 of the fertile females produced abnormal offspring in the 1st generation. Within any single litter there were variations in response of fetuses indicating, possibly, a slight spread in the developmental stage of the gonad primordia at the instant of X-irradiation. Testis sterility was correlated with the percentage of seminiferous tubules containing maturation stages. The precursors of Sertoli cells, interstitial tissue and ovarian stroma are radio-resistant but the primordia of maturation stages and of ovarian germinal nests are radio-sensitive. At the time of X-irradiation these stages were not yet differentiated. The sterile testes showed an increase in the interstitial tissue. While 2/3 of the offspring of these X-irradiated mice were sterile, the genetic sequelae of the fertile mice was not considered.

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