A PERSISTENT METABOLIC EFFECT OF X-RAYS OR NEUTRONS,
Abstract
Long-term studies of body weight and the consumption of food, water and oxygen were carried out on male. Sprague-Dawley rats irradiated as young adults (101 days of age) with 430 or 680 rads of x-rays or with 230 or 320 rads of fast neutrons. In comparison to simultaneously aging nonirradiated littermate controls, the body weight deficit attained during the first month postirradiation was never recovered and became even greater with advancing age. The size of this weight deficit was a function of dose and was greater per rad in the neutron-exposed animals. When persistent decrements in the consumption of oxygen and of food were proprated per unit of metabolic size, the differences from controls were no longer significant. The principal effect upon water consumption appeared to be an acceleration in time of the elevated water consumption normally seen late in life in nonirradiated rats. These results demonstrated permanent effects upon the functional state of animals irradiated early in life with a single dose of ionizing radiation in the sublethal or lethal (30-day) range. It is as though there is a portion of the irradiated animal missing by the end of the acute period following exposure; a portion which is never regained and which accounts for a major part of the metabolic decrement seen throughout most of the remainder of life. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0469020
Entities
People
- Dave C. Jones
- Donald J. Kimeldorf
- Garold K. Osborn
Organizations
- Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory