Inter-strain variation of skin reaction among three strains of mice after fractionated irradiation.

Abstract

To clarify the mechanism the heterogeneity in the response to ionizing irradiation arising from a genetic variation between individual humans, we here investigated the skin reaction of mice with fractionated irradiation. The fractionated irradiation was performed for 12 days with 10 fractions at a dose of 3, 4, 5, or 6 Gy. The order of radiosensitivity was obtained that C3H/HeMs was more resistant than A/J or C57BL/6J. This order was the same as the one after the experiments using a single dose. The inter-strain difference was not observed with dose-response analysis using the peak skin reaction score at each total dose group. The latent periods before the onset of skin reaction was various among the three strains or the dose of irradiation. As a result, inter-strain differences were observed in radiation susceptibility among three strains of mice using the functional endpoint of skin reaction after local fractionated irradiation. [J Radiat Res 44:403 (2003)]