Changes in the cellular composition of blood in unirradiated and irradiated mice kept in contact at the inter-organismic level

In the study conducted on outbred female mice, the radiation-induced “bystander effect” and the “rescue effect“ were found to be formed at an inter-organismic level. Unirradiated and gamma-irradiated (3 Gy) outbred white female mice were placed in one cage. The effect of co-residing was registered with the use of hemopoietic cells of peripheral blood by comparing to the population of hemopoietic cells in irradiated and unirradiated mice placed in different cages. The “bystander effect“ was observed in the monocytes subpopulation on the 3rd, 7th and 60th days. The effect was also observed in the neutrophils subpopulation on the 7th and 90th days. The “rescue effect” was observed in irradiated cells. The 5.8-fold (increase in eosinophils was registered on the 30th day (t=2.85; p=0.01), the 1.6-fold increase in eosinophils was observed on the 60th day, the 3-fold increase in eosinophils was registered on the 90th day (t=2.28; p=0.04). The effect of neutrophils subpopulation is slightly expressed, it can be considered as a tendency to increase the number of neutrophils on the 14th and 30th days. When the “rescue effect“ on irradiated mice was estimated with the use of monocytes the 5.7-fold increase was registered on the 30th day (t=2.94; p=0.01), the 7.3-fold increase was registered on the 90th day (t=2.41; p=0.03). According to the data obtained the “bystander effect” and the “rescue effect” are observed in all studied hemopoietic cells subpopulations, however they respond differently. The findings demonstrate the manifestation of the “bystander effect” and the “rescue effect” at the inter-organismic level. However, their intensity and trend depend to a large extent on the time period after irradiation, the contact type (tactile or olfactory) and a cellular subpopulation.