[Changes in heat production in experimental animals during irradiation and administration of radiation-protective agents]. / Izmenenie teploproduktsii zhivotnykh pri obluchenii i vvedenii radioprotektorov.

Due to the improvement of field method of oxygen consumption measuring, the instrument to realize simultaneous determination of micromammals heat production has been elaborated. These investigations estimated that the irradiation of mice at the dose of 3 mGy/hour caused the increase of heat production for 11.4%. Injection of radioprotectors increases the animals' heat production with the simultaneous decrease of oxygen consumption.

Genetic disorders in mice exposed to radiation in the vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power station.

Induced reciprocal translocations in spermatocytes of mice, either caught or exposed at the site, were observed at all levels of radioactive contamination around the Chernobyl nuclear power station. The frequency of reciprocal translocations was relatively low and increased linearly with increasing dose rate. Among 74 male mice exposed as early embryos, four reciprocal translocation heterozygotes were found. Furthermore, an increase in embryonic mortality and frequency of abnormal sperm heads was observed after termination of exposure, but these decreased rapidly with post-exposure time.

[Genetic disorders in laboratory mice exposed in the area of the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station]. / Geneticheskie narusheniia u laboratornykh myshei, éksponirovannykh v raione Chernobyl'skoi AES.

Laboratory male mice (CBA X C57Bl)F1 were exposed in three sectors with different contamination degree of radionuclides within 30 km-zone of the Chernobyl Atomic Power Plant. The total absorbed radiation doses in testes were 0.1; 3 and 25 Gy, respectively. Great depression of spermatogenesis was observed in exposed mice up to complete sterility in males from the most contaminated sector. The mutagenic effect of radiation was relatively low and did not increase with growth of the contamination degree.

[Reciprocal translocations in mice found in the vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power station]. / Retsiproknye translokatsii u myshei, nadkhodivshikhsia v raione Chernobyl'skoi AES.

A study was made of the incidence of genetic damage to germ cells of male mice taken from or exposed within the thirty-kilometer zone of Chernobyl, the contaminated no-man's-land around the reactor that failed. At all contamination levels mouse spermatocytes exhibited reciprocal translocations, a relatively low frequency of which increased with increasing dose rate. Heterozygotes, with respect to reciprocal translocations (5%), were found among males exposed to enhanced radiation background as early embryos.

[Genetic damage in domestic mice inhabiting in the areas with elevated background radiation]. / Geneticheskie povrezhdeniia u domovykh myshei, obitaiushchikh v usloviiakh povyshennogo fona radiatsii.

Genetic effects of irradiation in males of wild house mice which were caught in the region of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station were studied. The dose rate on the ground surface varied from 0.04 to 200 mR/h of gamma-irradiation. The increasing yield of dominant lethal mutations was only observed in males from the most contaminated sector. Reciprocal translocations were observed in spermatocytes of mice at all the levels of contamination. The rate of reciprocal translocations was relatively low and increased linearly with the elevation of the dose rate. The extent of testis damages increased also, as the dose rate grew. The frequency of abnormal sperm heads, the yield of recessive lethal mutations, litter size and radiosensitivity of the first progeny were not changed, depending on the dose rate.

Root absorption of 222Rn and its transfer into above-ground plant organs.

Experimental data are given on the content of genetically related pairs of radionuclides (226Ra and 222Rn; 224Ra and 220Rn) in soils and the above-ground phytomass of plants growing on plots with differing genesis of the higher concentrations of natural radionuclides in soils. Methods for determining gaseous radionuclides in the above-ground phytomass are described. Different transport routes of 222Rn and 220Rn into above-ground plant organs are considered. The noted absence of balance between 222Rn and 226Ra in plants as well as higher 222Rn/226Ra ratios in the above-ground phytomass as compared to that of the root-containing soil layer (25- to 185-fold) appears to be accounted for by the root pathway of 222Rn uptake and transport of this radionuclide to above-ground plants organs. The existence of the root pathway for 222Rn uptake is proved by direct observations of daily radionuclide movement with bleeding sap in experiments on pumpkins. For the short-lived Rn isotopes, 220Rn and 219Rn, the root pathway of uptake and transport to the above-ground phytomass is less probable, and this causes a notable redistribution of gaseous radionuclides during their movement along the soil-plant route.