IMMUNE RESPONSES TO ASSOCIATED EXPOSURE OF ROENTGEN IRRADIATION AND HERBICIDES IN OFFSPRING OF CHICKEN INJURED WITH <sup>131</sup>I
The experiments on laboratory animals showed that distant genetic response of parental irradiation is expressed by lower resistance to harmful effects on offspring body. The problem became even more relevant after the accident on Chernobyl nuclear power station when data showing worsen health of children born to the irradiated parents were registered. However, reports on health status in human whose parents were irradiated with incorporated iodine radionuclides still remains limited. The aim of this work was to study the response rate to associated effect of ionizing irradiation and herbicide in offspring from hens irradiated with 131I at the dosage of 1.1 MBq/kg. The experiments were performed on 211 offspring from Russian White layers exposed to daily irradiation with 131I during 30 days at rate of 1.1 MBq/kg and 213 chickens as the control analogues. To reveal latent changes in offspring body induced by exposure to radioactive iodine on parents 10-days old chicken were objected to an external roentgen irradiation and introduction of herbicide, 2.4-D ammonic salt, to 10-days and 6-months old chicken. Resistance to the effect of these factors was evaluated using common clinical, hematological, pathological, and morphological methods. The values for LD 50/30 were calculated according to Litchfield and Wilcoxson’s methods. Under the effect of external roentgen irradiation the experimental 10-days old offspring from five generation were characterized with more expressed changes in health status, slower growing rate, and development than that of the controls. As the values for LD50/30 were defined the 2nd generation of experimental offspring born in 12 months after parental hens were exposed to 131I-irradiation had higher sensitivity to roentgen irradiation. At the age of 10 days and 6 months the 3rd, 4th, and 5th generations of these irradiated hens occurred to be less adaptive to herbicide introduction, 2.4-D ammonic salt. At LD50/30 the 4th generation of the experimental offspring born at 12 month after radiation exposure were more sensitive to the herbicide for 1.5 times than the controls.