Teratogenic effect of californium-252 irradiation in rats.

The teratogenicity of californium-252 (Cf-252) irradiation which generates approximately 70% 2.3 MeV fast neutron and 30% gamma rays was evaluated. A single whole body exposure of Cf-252 at various doses was given to pregnant rats on day 8 or 9 of pregnancy, followed by microscopic autopsy of the fetuses at the terminal stage of pregnancy to search for external and internal malformations. For comparison, pregnant rats were irradiated with various doses of cobalt-60 (Co-60) standard gamma rays at the same dose rate (1 rad/min.). The doses were 20-120 rad of Cf-252 and 80-220 rad of Co-60. Using frequency of radiation induced malformations observed on day 8 of pregnancy as an index, relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 2.3-2.7 was obtained from the straight line obtained by modifying by the least squares method the frequency curves of malformed fetuses in total implants and in surviving fetuses. The types of malformations induced by Cf-252 and Co-60 irradiation were alike. Using fetal LD50 as an index, 2.4 was obtained as RBE when irradiated on day 8 of pregnancy and 3.1 as that when irradiated on day 9. The results showed that Cf-252 had stronger a teratogenic effect than Co-60 gamma rays.