Development of rat visual system after prenatal X-irradiation

Rats pregnant for 16 or 19 days (ED 16 or 19) were irradiated with 1 Gy and killed after 24 hrs or at age 24 or 180 days. The primary influence of X-rays consists in a lethal lesion of cells located in the periventricular zone as well as some of the more differentiated cells in the brain parenchyma. After irradiation on ED 16, the acute damage was greater in the cerebral cortex and the superior colliculus (SC) than in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Irradiation on ED 19 damaged mainly the cortical part of the visual system. In adult animals the acute radiation damage results in a deficit in packing density and the total number of neurons. Animals irradiated on ED 16 revealed more pronounced changes in deep layers of the cortex (L VI) than in the superficial layers. The deficit was smaller in the SC, and in the LGN an increase in the packing density of nerve cells was found. In animals irradiated on ED 19, the deficit in neurons density occurred mainly in more superficial layers of the cortex, with a maximum deficit in layer IV. From comparison of acute and final changes it may be concluded that the damage of preneuroblastic cell populations is compensated during later embryonic development, while the damage induced in populations already at early neuroblast stage is irreversible and leads to a permanent deficit. Glia cell population is altered in a similar way as the number of neurons in regions poor in myelin, while in regions rich in myelin the number of glia cells seems to depend on changes in the number of efferent and afferent nerve fibres. (author)