Haematological studies on micropopulations of Clethrionomys rutilus Pall under different radioecological conditions

The effect of low dose ionizing radiation on living organisms is studied. The blood of Clethrionomys rutilus Pall which habitates under various radioecological conditions is studied. It is taken into account that hematologic indices reflex the general state of the organism and prove to be a sensitive test of physiological alterations in the organism. The animals were taken on the territory with the increased amount of uranium and thorium in the underlying original rock. Average radiation doses from external gamma radiation on experimental and control territories constitute 0.86 and 0.1 rem/year, respectively. Radiation from thoron, radon and products of their decay condition the dose of 2 rem/year on the experimental territory and 0.1 rem/year on the control territory. Blood for investigation is taken with the method of decapitation. A 5% level of importance of differences is taken for the statistic processing of results obtained. The investigation has revealed no considerable differences between micropopulations of Clethrionomys rutilus Pall habitating different radioecological conditions over all indices of the red blood studied. As considers the composition of white blood, statistically considerable excess of the general amount of leukocytes in wintered males from the radioactive territory is found. An insignificant excess of this index has been noted in other groups of animals, as well