Skeletal Defects in Prenatally Irradiated Sheep, Cattle and Swine

Abstract

Whole-body doses of gamma radiation administered to ewes between days 22 and 25 of gestation produced deformities of the thoracic limbs in a major portion of their lambs. Exposure between days 23 and 27 caused a high incidence of defective pelvic limbs. Similar anomalies of the thoracic limbs were produced by gamma irradiation of cattle on the 32nd day of pregnancy and by neutron exposures of swine on day 21 of gestation. The minimum dose to the dam at which anomalies were produced was 200 r in sheep and 300 r in cattle. Copyright © 1965. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1965 by American Society of Animal Science