[Effect of melanin on mutagenic activity of chronic irradiation and adaptive response in mice]. / Vliianie melanina na mutagennoe deistvie khronicheskogo oblucheniia i adaptivnyi otvet u myshei.

Pigment melanin peroral injection was shown to decrease significantly mutagenic action of chronic irradiation at low dose rate (0.007 Gy/h), and melanin protection against chronic irradiation is even more effective than against acute one. A phenomenon of radioadaptive response was revealed in mice in vivo by tests of chromosome aberrations in bone marrow cells and reciprocal translocations in germ cells. Adaptive response before priming dose was not observed if melanin was injected. If melanin was applied between conditioning and basic doses both radioprotective and adaptive effects were observed.