Long-term effects of sublethal γ-ray irradiation on the hematopoietic immune function of mice

  Purpose: To observe the changes of hematopoietic and immune function indexes of C57BL/6J mice 6 months after 4Gy、6Gy whole body irradiation.

  Methods: C57BL/6J mice from 8 to 12 weeks were irradiated with 4Gy and 6Gy whole body respectively. After 6 months of irradiation, peripheral blood cell count and classification, thymus coefficient and spleen coefficient, peripheral blood and spleen immune cell typing, spleen T were detected Cell p16 expression level.

  Results: 6 months after irradiation, the peripheral blood white blood cell and red blood cell counts were still significantly lower than those of the control group. There was no significant difference between platelets and the control group. The results of peripheral blood cell classification showed that the proportion of neutrophils in the irradiated group increased and the proportion of lymphocytes decreased. There is a phenomenon of cell differentiation shift. Compared with the control group, 6 months after 6Gy irradiation, the thymus coefficient was significantly reduced (P<0.05). There was no difference in spleen coefficient. Peripheral blood flow analysis showed that after 4Gy and 6Gy irradiation, B Lymphocytes and NK cells are still lower than the control group, suggesting that they have not fully recovered 6 months after exposure. The ratio of CD4 in the irradiated group is higher than that in the control group. There is no difference in CD8 and monocytes from the control group. Flow cytometry for spleen immune cells Analysis, the results showed that 6 months after 4Gy and 6Gy irradiation, B220 decreased significantly in the control group, and both had extremely significant differences (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, the expression of p16 on splenic T cells increased in the 6Gy group The trend, but no significant difference.

  Conclusion: All tests have basically recovered 6 months after the sublethal dose irradiation, but the neutrophils in the peripheral blood classification continue to rise, and the thymus coefficient and the proportion of peripheral blood and splenic B lymphocytes are still lower than those in the control group. It suggests that there may be long-term damage 。This experimental data provides basic data for the study of long-term damage to hematopoietic immune function after medium and high dose irradiation.