GENETIC-DISORDERS IN-HOUSE MOUSE GERM-CELLS AFTER THE CHERNOBYL CATASTROPHE

Genetic effects were studied in house mice caught from 1986 to 1994 in regions polluted by radionuclides as a result of the Chernobyl disast er. The dose rates of gamma-radiation on the soil surface ranged from 0.0002 to 2 mGy/h, The frequency of reciprocal translocations in mouse spermatocytes was relatively low, but increased with the dose rate, E mbryo mortality was increased only in the progeny of male mice in male s caught in 1987 in the area with maximal contamination. The frequency of mice heterozygous for recessive lethal mutations decreased with ti me after the accident. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.