The Effect of X-radiation on the Mouse Retina at Different Stages of Development

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Abstract
The histological response of the mouse retina to x-irradiation was studied in relation to post-natal development; it was measured by the relative numbers of nuclei surviving under different conditions of age and dose. (1) The radiosensitivity of the undifferentiated retina (age 4 days) was high; after 150 rads pyknosis soon developed in the formative nuclear zones. (2) The cell-killing was not entirely due to an effect on mitosis because the cells killed in 6 hours outnumbered the mitoses accumulating 6 hours after colchicine. (3) When the retinal layers had formed (age 8 days), their component cells were much less radiosensitive. (4) At age 13 days a dose of 3800 rads halved the number of visual cells (D50), but hardly affected the bipolar cells. (5) Subsequently, the radiosensitivity of the visual cells increased (D50 at age 28 days: 1600 rads) and then decreased (D50 at age 3 months: 2700 rads). These alterations were related to cytological differentiation, not mitosis.

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