The radiosensitivities of lymphocytes from pig, sheep, goat and cow

Dose-effect curves for X-irradiation in vitro were determined on cultured blood lymphocytes of four mammalian species-cow, goat, sheep and pig-having approximately the same number of chromosome arms, the same nuclear volume and the same DNA content. The data from cow, but not those from the other species, exhibited significant inhomogeneity between the experiments. On inspection the numerical yields appear not to differ greatly in the lower dose range. Evaluation of the parameters according to the quadratic law and the power law, however, demonstrate significant differences. Pig differs from the other species regardless of which presentation is chosen. For the power law a significant difference is also found between goat and sheep.