SUBJECTING unborn babies to radiation during medical X-rays or
intercontinental flights may increase their risk of developing mental illness
later in life, German researchers told the New Orleans conference.
Christoph Schmitz at the University of Aachen and his colleagues have shown
for the first time that mice exposed to low doses of radiation in the womb
undergo changes in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. The effects of
these changes only show up in early adulthood.
The researchers think their findings may provide important clues to the
development of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia that appear in adulthood.…
