The classical results that one associates with the effects of irradiation on the mammalian embryo are 1) intrauterine and extrauterine growth retardation;2) embryonic, fetal or neonatal death and 3) gross congenital malformations. The structure most readily and consistently affected by irradiation is the central nervous system. If the acute in utero dose is below 25 R, these classical effects of irradiation are never observed tosether in experimental animals nor, in all likelihood, in the human. This, of course, does not mean that there are not other embryopathological effects that can be produced with this level of radiation exposure.
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