Studies on the synaptonemal complex aberrations induced by ionizing radiation

Male mice were irradiated by whole body X-ray radiation. At different times after the exposure, the synaptonemal complex aberrations at pachytene stage of meiosis prophase I were observed by electron microscope and the chromosome aberrations were analyzed by microscope at metaphase I respectively. The results showed that the kinds of synaptonemal complex aberrations were more complicated than the kinds of the chromosome aberrations. The frequencies of synaptonemal complex aberration and chromosome aberration both increased with X-ray doses, the data can fit to linear equations, eg. Ysc = -0.86 + 0.68D (r = 0.93); YD-MI = -0.20 + 0.90 D (r = 0.99). These results indicate that to detect aberrations the synaptonemal complex method is more effective than D-MI chromosome method. Therefore, we can evaluate the genetic risk induced by ionizing radiation in animals by the synaptonemal complex technique