Effect of Low Dose Gamma Radiation Upon Phosphatase Activity in Blood Plasma of Chicken Hatched from Eggs Irradiated on the Seventh Day of Incubation

In our earlier studies chickens hatched from eggs irradiated with 0.15 Gy gamma rays before incubation showed a significantly higher growth than controls during the fattening period (1-42 days). The activity of aspartate-aminotransferase (AST), alanine-aminotransferase (ALT), acid phosphatase (ACP) and plasma glucose in the same chickens were also significantly higher. These results suggested that low-dose gamma-radiation stimulated certain metabolic processes in chickens hatched from eggs irradiated before incubation. Investigating the effect of low dose gamma radiation upon transferases activity in blood plasma of chickens hatched from eggs irradiated on the 7th day of incubation, i.e. in the time when organogenesis is completely finished, we found that on day 10, AST and ALT activity was significantly higher in the blood plasma of those chickens, whereas it significantly dropped for both enzymes on day 20. This time the goal of study was to determine the effect of low-dose gamma radiation on ACP and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in the blood plasma of chickens hatched from eggs irradiated on the 7th day of incubation. The eggs of heavy breeding chickens (Avian, line 34) were exposed to 0.15 Gy of gamma radiation (60Co) on the seventh day of incubation. The control group included chickens hatched from non-irradiated eggs. All other conditions were the same for both groups. After hatching, blood samples were taken from the wing vein on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, 32 and 42. The activity of both enzymes was determined spectrophotometrically using Boehringer Mannheim GmbH optimised kits. ACP activity was significantly lower in the blood plasma of chickens hatched from irradiated eggs on day 3 (P<0,01), 5 (P<0,05) and 10 (P<0,05). Throughout the experimental period ALP activity did not statistically significantly change. Our results indicate that exposure of eggs to low-dose gamma radiation on the seventh day of incubation reduces ACP activity in the blood plasma of chickens hatched from irradiated eggs. Namely, this effect is somewhat different from the effect of egg exposure to low-dose gamma radiation before incubation. This difference is probably caused by the difference in the time of eggs radiation.(author)