Acute Mortality and Changes in Body-weight of Mice after Partial-body Irradiation with X-rays and Fast Neutrons

Summary

Acute mortality and changes in body-weight were studied in CRF₁ female mice after trunk irradiation with 200 kV X-rays and fast neutrons produced by the Be(d, n) reaction with 2·8 MeV deuterons. For the neutron beam, including its inherent gamma contamination, LD₅₀ values of 412 rads and 527 rads and r.b.e. values of 3·1 and 2·7 were obtained for 30-day mortality and 5-day mortality, respectively. For changes in body-weight of surviving mice, a single minimum was found after trunk irradiation with X-rays as well as neutrons. The minimum weight, the time at which this occurred, and the time of recovery to the initial weight level were correlated with dosage.