The Radiosensitivity of Hair Follicles in Mouse Dorsum and Tail

Abstract

The radiosensitivity of murine hair follicles was measured in two skin sites, dorsal body and tail. Follicles were considered viable if they appeared histologically similar to controls 4 or 8 weeks after irradiation or similar to growing follicles 12 days after plucking. Dorsal follicles were either unplucked or plucked after and/or before irradiation. Tail follicles were unplucked, but at the time of irradiation the tails were either in air or clamped to induce severe hypoxia, or the mice were anesthetized. The differences in dorsal follicle sensitivity were compared with other widely varying values reported in the literature. The relative sensitivities of the tail follicles in different conditions at the time of irradiation were similar to previous relative sensitivities measured for tail necrosis.