An investigation of early radiation damage in rainbow trout eye-lenses

Abstract

As part of the wider interest in the effects of ionizing radiation on non-human biota, this investigation was carried out to study early radiation damage to the eye-lenses of rainbow trout. Lenses were cultured and irradiated to doses of 1.1 Gy and 2.2 Gy with low-energy X-rays of 40 kV. Laser focal analysis was used to track changes in focal lengths across the lenses post-irradiation. Changes in focal length variability (FLV) were measured to determine whether this could give an indication of the early effects of radiation on lens health. No statistically significant differences in FLV between the control and irradiated lenses within 10 days post-irradiation were observed. FLV was found to be 0.09 ± 0.02 mm for 2.2 Gy lenses, 0.06 ± 0.01 mm for 1.1 Gy lenses, and 0.11 ± 0.02 mm for control lenses at the end of the observation period.

Appendix

Table

Table 3 Summary of BCD measurements ± SE (in mm) for the dose groups in preliminary experiments

3 shows the results of BCD measurements in the preliminary lens irradiation experiments, where lenses were irradiated to 0.044 Gy and 0.088 Gy in Experiment 1 and 0.19 Gy, 0.30 Gy, and 0.34 Gy in Experiment 2. Each round of experiments also has its own control group. Table

Table 4 Summary of FLV measurements ± SE (in mm) for the dose groups in preliminary experiments

4 shows the results of FLV calculations for the preliminary experiments. These results are presented for supplementary information, and no statistical analysis has been performed due to differences in experimental methodology between the various groups. No comparison is made between different timepoints or dose groups because these experiments used procedures that were sometimes inconsistent, which were used to inform improvements in methodology for further experiments.