Prolonged Increase in T-Cell Receptor (TCR) Variant Fractions of Spleen T Lymphocytes in Pregnant Mice after γ Irradiation

Abstract Igari, Y., Igari, K., Kunugita, N., Ootsuyama, A. and Norimura, T. Prolonged Increase in T-Cell Receptor (TCR) Variant Fractions of Spleen T Lymphocytes in Pregnant Mice after γ Irradiation. Radiat. Res. 168, 81–86 (2007). To investigate the relationship between the radiation-induced increase of T-cell receptor (TCR) defective variant fractions and physiological status such as pregnancy, C57BL/ 6N mice were irradiated with 3 Gy of γ rays at various days of gestation, just before and just after pregnancy. While the highest level of variant fractions in spleen T lymphocytes appeared at 9 days postirradiation and resolved fairly rapidly for nonpregnant mice, the increased variant fractions for pregnant mice irradiated at 16.5 days of gestation reached a plateau at 14 days postirradiation and remained at high levels until 28 days after irradiation. Therefore, variant fractions 28 days postirradiation were measured to determine the overall effect of radiation on the kinetics of TCR variant fractions d...