Bruno Bassani

Tumor induction and life shortening in BC3F1 female mice at low doses of fast neutrons and X rays

Extension of previous investigations at this laboratory regarding life shortening and tumor induction in the mouse has provided more complete dose-response information in the low dose region of X rays and neutrons. A complete observation of survival and late pathology has been carried out on over 2000 BC3F1 female mice irradiated with single doses of 1.5 MeV neutrons (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 cGy) and, for comparison, of X rays (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 cGy). Data analysis has shown that a significant life shortening is observable only for individual neutron doses not lower than 8 cGy. Nevertheless, assuming a linear nonthreshold form for the overall dose-effect relationships of both radiation qualities, an RBE value of 12.3 is obtained for the 1.5 MeV neutrons. The induction of solid tumors by neutrons becomes statistically significant at individual doses from 8 cGy and by X rays for doses larger than 1 Gy. Linear dependence on neutron dose appears adequate to interpret the data at low doses. A separate analysis of ovarian tumor induction substantiates the hypothesis of a threshold dose for the X rays, while this is not strictly needed to interpret the neutron data. A trend analysis conducted on the neoplasm incidence confirms the above findings. Death rates have been analyzed, and a general agreement between the shift to earlier times of these curves and tumor induction was found.

Influence of age on life shortening and tumor induction after x-ray and neutron irradiation

The main object of this study is to investigate the role of age on the susceptibility to radiation carcinogenesis and life shortening for different qualities of radiation. Over the last few years, a line of research at the Laboratory of Pathology, C.R.E. Casaccia, has been set up to study the effects of exposure to neutron irradiation, including observations on late effects (both neoplastic and nonneoplastic) as a function of radiation dose and of age at irradiation. Graded single doses of X rays or attenuated fission neutrons have been given to male BC3F1 mice 3 and 19 months old and to animals in utero at 17 days postcoitum. The analysis of data from over 3000 mice indicates that irradiation at 3 months of age causes life shortening which is associated with the incidence and rate of radiation-induced neoplasms. Prenatal irradiation or irradiation at 19 months of age does not show a clearly measurable life shortening for both X-ray and neutron exposures. However, significantly higher incidence and rate of solid tumors and reticulum cell sarcomas were observed. In general the data confirm the higher biological effectiveness of neutrons compared with X rays. The estimates of neutron relative biological effectiveness for different end points were found to be in the range of 3 to 18 and their variation was closely dose dependent.

Radiation-Induced Tumors in Transplanted Ovaries

was similar in the two cases, showing a steeply rising branch at doses up to 0.75 Gy followed by a maximum and an elevated plateau up to 4.00 Gy. A higher incidence of tumors in transplanted organs was apparent for doses up to the maximum, which was attributed to castration-induced hormonal imbalance. Specific death rate analysis of mice dying with ovarian tumors showed that in this system radiation acts essentially by decreasing tumor latency. Ovarian tumors were classified in various histological types and their development in time was followed by serial sacrifice. Separate analysis of death rate of animals carrying different tumor classes allowed further resolution of the various components of the tumor induction phenomenon. It was thus possible to show that the overall death rate analysis masks a true effect of induction of granulosa cell tumors in whole-body-irradiated animals. The transplantation technique offers little advantage for the study of radiation induction of ovarian tumor.

Life-span and spontaneous tumours in mice with high and low antibody responses (Biozzi mice)

Life-span and spontaneous tumours in mice with high and low antibody responses (Biozzi mice)