Genetic effects on heavy ions in drosophila. Final technical report

Technical Report · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:42785

Kale, P G

Drosophila sex-linked recessive lethal mutation test was used to study the dose response relation and relative biological effectiveness of heavy ions. The experiments were performed using the heavy ion beams at BEVALAC of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. These experiments were undertaken according to the proposed milestones and included Ne-20, Ar-40 and Fe-65 ions with respective energies of 600 MeV, 840 MeV and 850 MeV. At these energies several doses of these radiations ranging from 20 to 1280 R were used. Space radiation exposure to astronauts is supposed to be quite low and therefore very low dose experiments i.e., 20 R, were also performed for the three ions. The mutation response was measured in all germ cell types i.e., spermatozoa, spermatids, spermatocytes and spermatogonia of treated Drosophila males. A linear dose frequency relation was observed for most of the range except at high doses where the saturation effect was observed. Also, a very significant difference was observed among the sensitivity of the four germ cell stages where spermatozoa and spermatids were more sensitive. At the higher doses of this range, most of the spermatogonia and spermatocytes were killed. Although comparative and identical experiments with X-rays or neutrons have not been performed, the compassion of this data with the ones available in literature suggest that the heavy ions have a high rbe and that they are several times more effective than low LET X-rays. The rbe compared to neutrons however appears to be only slightly higher.

• Research Organization: Alabama A and M Univ., Normal, AL (United States)
• OSTI ID: 42785
• Report Number(s): N--95-22911; NASA-CR--197916; NAS--1.26:197916; CNN: NAG9-246
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
ARGON 40 BEAMS
BEVALAC
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
DROSOPHILA
HEAVY IONS
ION BEAMS
IRON 56 BEAMS
IRRADIATION
NEON 20 BEAMS
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIATION HAZARDS
RBE
SPERMATOZOA