Electron-microscopic studies on Gallus domesticus ovarium after exposure to X-rays

The effect of low X-ray doses on newly hatched chick ovaria at different intervals after irradiation was studied. Whereas the early ultrastructural changes in the extrafollicular ovocytes consist largely of condensation of nuclear chromatin, the initial changes in the primordial ovocytes are characterized by dilation of the cistoerns of the endoplasmatic reticulum in the area of the Golgi complex. Questions are discussed on the different sensitivity of ovocytes and follicular cells to X-rays and the possible role of the germinative epithelium and the other ovarian cell elements in the regeneration process. (author)