Response of mouse lung to irradiation at different dose-rates

Groups of LAF1 mice were given thoracic irradiation using 60Co gamma-rays at dose-rates of 0.05 Gy/min (LDR) or 1.1 Gy/min (HDR) and the death of the animals was monitored as a function of time. It was found that the time pattern of animal deaths was similar for the two different dose-rates. Dose response curves for animals dying at various times up to 500 days after irradiation were calculated and the LD50 values determined. The curves for the LD50 values, plotted as a function of the time at analysis for treatment at HDR or LDR, were essentially parallel to each other but separated by a factor (LDR/HDR) of about 1.8. This indicates that the sparing effect of LDR treatment is the same for deaths occurring during the early pneumonitis phase or during the late fibrotic phase of lung damage. The available information on the response of patients to whole thoracic irradiation, given for either palliation or prior to bone marrow transplantation, suggests that for similar dose-rates to those studied here the ratio (LDR/HDR) is only 1.2-1.3. This difference between the animal and human data may reflect the modifying effect of the large doses of cytotoxic drugs used in combination with the irradiation of bone marrow transplant patients.