Effects of preconceptional gamma irradiation on the development of rat brain

We investigated the influence of irradiation of rat males with sublethal dose (3 Gy) of gamma radiation 25 or 80 days before mating with control females on brain development in F1 generation progeny in prenatal and postnatal period. We found out the decrease in mitotic activity and increase in occurrence of chromosomal aberrations (chromosomal bridges) in embryos and brain (hemispheres and little brain) of youngs. Effects transferred to progeny from irradiated spermatids (by irradiation of males of F0 generation 25 days before fertilization) were more marked as effects transferred from irradiated spermatogonia (by irradiation 80 days before fertilization). During embryonic development and early postnatal period, the changes of mitotic index (MI) were gradually less expressive. The incidence of cells with unrepaired DNA damage (chromosomal bridges), however, was high until the end of experiment. These findings we consider as a manifestation of increased genome instability induced in the progeny by paternal irradiation.