Fig. 6.
SS (Dahl salt-sensitive/Mcwi) rats that received 9 Gy × 5 localized cardiac radiation exhibit worse mortality and cardiac hypertrophy, and a trend toward increased pleural effusions, compared with the SS-3BN (substitution of rat chromosome 3 from the resistant Brown Norway rat strain onto the SS background) rats. A: increased cardiac mortality was observed after 9 Gy × 5 Gy localized cardiac radiation therapy (RT) in SS female rats (4/11 SS vs. 0/10 SS-3BN rats expired: *P < 0.05). B: at 5 mo, cardiac hypertrophy was evident in the SS female rats, but not in the SS-3BN female rats, as measured by heart-to-body weight ratios: *P < 0.05. C: at 3 mo postradiation, there was no difference in the volume of pleural effusions between SS and SS-3BN rats, and at 5 mo postradiation the female SS rats had a trend toward increased volumes of pleural effusions compared with the SS-3BN consomic rats (P = 0.10). Values are means ± SE; n, no. of rats.