Micronucleated reticulocytes in the peripheral blood of mice exposed to 60Co γ-rays / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the changes of the percentage of micronucleated reticulocytes (MN-RET) in the peripheral blood of mice exposed to 60Co γ-rays,in order to provide evidence for a new biomarker of radiation biodosimetry.Methods ICR mice were irradiated in whole body with 0,0.5,1,2,4 and 8 Gy at a dose rate of 0.24 Gy/min.Peripheral blood was collected for MN-RET assay using a flow cytometry.Results The percentage of peripheral MN-RET increased steadily with irradiation doses up to 2 Gy and then had a downtrend beyond 2 Gy.The changes of MN-RET observed with a microscope were consistent with the results from flow cytometry.The dose response of the MN-RET fitted to a lineal model (R2 =0.9063),and the MN-RET at 2 Gy was significantly higher than that of nonirradiated control (t =-2.856,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Percentage of peripheral M N-RET could be an early,rapid and high-throughput radiation bio-dosimeter in certain range of doses.