Effects of Prenatal Gamma Irradiation on the Germ Cells of the Male Pig

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Abstract
A description is given of certain features of the normal pattern of porcine prenatal testicular development, and germ-cell radiosensitivity is related to these. The 1st evidence for gonocyte (primitive germ cell) radiosensitivity was noted in testes irradiated at 35 days of gestation, but a marked effect on the gonocyte population was not evidenced until day 50. Germ-cell radiosensitivity continued at the same level throughout the remaining portion of gestation studied (to 90 days). Initiation of pronounced gonocyte sensitivity (day 50) was shown to be correlated with the definitive organization of the sex cord. Comparisons between rat and pig gonocyte radioresponses are drawn, and the possibility of a qualitative difference in their respective germ-cell populations is discussed.