Relationship between viability and genotoxic effect of gamma rays delivered at different dose rates in somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster

ABSTRACT

The role of dose rate (DR) on biological effects of ionizing radiation is an area of significant research focus and relevant to environmental exposures. The present investigation was aimed to examine the direct relationship between viability and genotoxicity in Drosophila melanogaster, induced by gamma rays in a range of doses from 2 to 35 Gy administered at three different DR. Results indicated that larval-adult viability was reduced in relation to dose but not DR. No marked differences were found in the LD₅₀ produced by differing DR tested. Frequencies of somatic mutation and recombination increased in direct correlation with dose and DR. Data demonstrate the importance of determination of the relationship between viability and genotoxicity induced by DR in in vivo systems for toxicological and radioprotection studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Somatic mutation
• D. melanogaster
• Radiation dose rate
• larvae-viability
• Gamma rays

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by a grant No. 167461 to Cruces M.P. from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT), Mexico, and it involved some research by Jiménez E. to obtain the Ph D. in Chemical Sciences at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM) supported by CONACyT scholarship No. 334422. The authors wish to acknowledge the splendid technical assistance provided by Hugo Suárez Contreras, Luz Ma. Vidal Escobar and Elena González Herrera.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología [167461].