Blood, 1958, Vol. 13, No. 7, pp. 665-676.
© 1958 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Effect of Chemical Protection and Bone Marrow
Treatment on Radiation Injury in Mice
PAUL URSO 1,
C. C. CONGDON 1,
D. G. DOHERTY 1, and
RAYMOND SHAPIRA 1
1 Biology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
(operated by Union Carbide Corporation for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission).
MEG (prepared from 9.0 mg. of AET) significantly modified the response
of the bone marrow, peripheral blood leukocytes, spleen, thymus, body
weight, hematocrit, and histology of the hematopoietic organs to lethal (900 r)
and sublethal (450 r) x-irradiation in CAF1 mice.
MEG reduced the effect of 900 r on the bone marrow, granulocytes of
the blood, hematocrit, spleen, thymus, and body weight by a factor of approximately two.
Combined treatment (MEG and isologous bone marrow) of mice exposed
to 900 r of x-rays demonstrated that MEG is primarily responsible for preventing the early destruction of the bone marrow, but bone marrow injection
was primarily responsible for causing a more rapid recovery of the bone
marrow.
In mice receiving combined treatment, recovery of the leukocytes and
spleen was primarily influenced by the bone marrow injection; whereas
recovery of the thymus and body weight was primarily influenced by MEG.
The hematocrit values were normal after combined treatment.
Submitted on November 8, 1957
Accepted on January 27, 1958
