Worm Breeder's Gazette 8(3): 17

These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.

Sensitivity of the Embryo of C. elegans to X-rays

N. Ishii, K. Suzuki

Figure 1

Eggs isolated by the method using hyperchlorite were irradiated with 
X-rays after incubation for various times.  The hatched worms were 
grown on agar plates with E.  coli as food and survivors were scored 
for the animals reaching adulthood at 3 days after irradiation.
The eggs at 2 h after egg collection were most sensitive and the D37 
(dose corresponding to 37% survival) was 500 rads.  The D37 of the 
eggs at 0, 2 and 3 h were 900, 750 and 700 rads, respectively and at 4 
to 11 h were in the range from 5,000 to 8.000 rads.  The eggs at 2 h 
was constituted of 100 to 350 cells; the number corresponding to that 
for the eggs of Rhabditidae tokai at 5 h, the most sensitive stage.
The results showed that the eggs during the first half of 
embryogenesis (the stage of cell division) is about ten times more 
sensitive to X-irradiation than the eggs during the second half (the 
stage of morphogenesis).  It was assumed that X-rays might influence 
not only cell division but also cell-cell-interactions.

Figure 1