Comparative Effects of a Purified Diet and Natural Food Stock Rations on the Periodontium of Mice Exposed to Multiple Sublethal Doses of Total Body X-Irradiation

¹ School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles; Institute for Nutritional Studies, Culver City, California, and Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

Studies were made of the effects of multiple sublethal doses of total body X-irradiation (six weekly exposures of 200 R each) on the subsequent appearance of the periodontium and incisal dentin of male mice fed either a highly purified diet or natural food stock rations.

Pathologic changes were observed in the periodontal and dentinal tissues in mice fed the purified diet and sacrificed 6 months and 9 months after the first X-ray exposure. Similar changes did not occur in X-irradiated mice fed the stock rations or in nonirradiated mice on any of the diets used.