Response of mouse spermatogonial stem cells to X-ray induction of heritable reciprocal translocations.

Although heritable translocations are an important endpoint for the assessment of genetic risk from radiation, there has been a serious information gap with regard to their induction in spermatogonial stem cells, the most important cell stage in males for risk considerations. This led to uncertainty in estimating the magnitude of risk per unit exposure. Further, the relationship between the frequency of reciprocal exchanges scored by cytological analysis of the exposed male's meiocytes and the frequency of those transmitted to first-generation offspring needed to be re-examined.