THE EFFECTS OF X-RADIATION ON WORK CAPACITY AND LONGEVITY OF THE DOG School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis

摘要

Seventy-three percent of the experimental beagles are alive as they approach 8 years old. Under natural conditions, only 22% of beagles are still alive at that age. Establishing an optimum environment for these' dogs makes the study of long-term effects of radiation more significant. Normal fluctuations in peripheral blood values mask any supposedly long-term effect;neither leukemoid nor leukemic responses have been observed. Reproductive studies continue to indicate that fertility is not appreciably affected by total-body X-irradiation. Even females that survived a near-lethal exposure (LD60/30) maintained fertility to 5 years old. Since these results conflict with comparable studies in mice, a possible species difference is being explored.