Argonne National Laboratory Monthly Progress Report April 1950

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This document consists of 2 pagesMONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT Report of the work of the BIOLOGY, RADIOLOGICAL PHYSICS, and HEALTH for the Quarterly Period ending Prepared by the Information Division Operated by the University of Chicago

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Offices of Directed Operations: New York, New York Oak Ridge, Tennessee Santa Fe (Los Alamos), New Mexico Schenectady, New York AEC Labor ator ie s : Battelle Memorial Institute Br ookhaven National Labor a tory General Electric Company Hanford Operations Office Iowa State College Mas sachus ett s Institute of Technology National Bureau of Standards Oak Ridge National Laboratory University of California, Radiation Laboratory University of Rochester Areonnb National Laboratorv: New Chemistry Library Palos Park Library

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MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT The monthly progress report from the Argonne National Laboratory now includes material from one-third of the Laboratory. sions into which the work has been divided are : ogy, Radiological Physics and Health Services, and (3) Chemical Engineering, Metallurgy and Remote Control Engineering. The present monthly report covers the work in Biology, Radiological Physics, and Health Services for the quarterly period ending March 31, 1950. Several sets of calculations have been completed using a method of fitting empirical data by sums of exponentials. described by sums of exponentials and the total qua.ntity of excreted radioExcretion data have been The corresponding retention function has been The effect of spleen protection on iron distribution in irradiated rats has been observed. controls; (2)surgical mobilization of the spleen, no radiation; (3) single tion, no protection; (4) irradiation with the mobilized spleen in a lead chamber,Three days after an X irradiation dose of 500 r and at com para - able times for controls,each rat received intravenously approximately 100,000 counts p e r minute of Fe59. ficed at intervals from 1-1 2to96hours thereafter. the spleen was nearly equal (170’0)f o r groups 1, 2 , and 3 but much higher (7%)for animals in group 4. Animals were divided into four groups: (1) normal Animals from each group were sacr i - The uptake of iron in Phenylhydrazine hydrochloride was administered daily by mouth in a dose of from 0.1 t o 0.2 grams to 12 patients suffering from various d is - orders but having i r common an anemia refractory to such therapeutic agents as iron and liver.Disease states included leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, and cancer. phenylhydrazine, the he mo lysis induced by phenylhydrazine, o r the products of hemolysis may stimulate e ry thro cyto poi es is in individuals with ref rac - tory anemia associated with neoplastic disease more satisfactorily than other known methods of stimulating cell formation, Before treatment, reticulocytosis varied from less Nine of the patients responded to the phenylhydrazine The data indicate that

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The spleen o r appendix of young adult rabbits was lead-protected during exposure to 800 r X radiation, Recovery of the hematopoietic tisSues of the animals with such lead protection occurred mole iapidly than spleen and absent in the appendix i n the rabbits. In rats and mice, it was greatly intensified. Possible explanations for the protective action of the virtue of the “filtering action” of the spleen; (2)humoral stimulation from the protected cells of the spleen causing regeneration of irradiated hematopoietic tissue(more plausible). Studies involving the role of colonization o r seeding and studies of the effects of extracts of lymphatic tissue on recovery from radiation injury are in progress. Ectopic blood formation was minimal in the lead-protected Great variation has been observed in the response of hybrid guinea pigs to X irradiation. mate 360 r single total-body dose was similar to that observed after 260 r with another group of guinea pigs. a s the exposure level. A mortality of 32 percent 30 days after an approxi Another experiment is underway in which 400 r is used Mice (160)were exposed t o 900 r total-body X irradiation while their spleens were exterior i zed and shielded with lead protectors. were7 deaths in the first9 days after exposure. the following 19 days. anemia were evident but at two weeks the blood picture was normal. protection of irradiated host mice bearing a lymphosarcoma-transplant in A t one week after exposure leucopenia and a slight No deaths occurred in Experiments are in progress to determine the effect of spleen Groups of hybrid guinea pigs have been chronically exposed to gamma radiation a t 8.8 r , 4.4, 2.2, 1.1 o r 0.11 r eight hours each day, seven days each week beginning February 1943. most of the deaths at4.4 and 2.2 levels.There were no deaths from pancytopenia in the 1.1r group. Thus it appears that death from this cause isa function of dose rate rather than of total dose. Leucopenia was signifi cant a t 0.11 r and increased at higher levels. Heteropenia was observed in groups exposed t o 2 . 2 , 4.4 and 8.8 r . Males exposed to 1 . 1 r showed a conside r able weight increase over that of controls. beginning of the experiment the animals in this exposure group were older and consequently heavier than those in the control group. The last survivor died in Pancytopenia caused all of the deaths in the 8.8 r groups and It i s noted that a t the lnbred guinea pigs, given limited chronic exposures to gamma rays until the red blood count reached about 2.5millions, accumulated dosages ranging from757r(86days) to 1504 r (205 days). s pons es followed the cessation of exposure at that point:

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died within a few weeks; (2)some showed partial recovery lasting about 2 5 weeks at which time there was a lethal recurrent anemia; and the third group showed complete recovery. The program for screening compounds for prophylactic value has significantly decreased radiosensitivity while thiamine-HC1, 1 - taurine, and tyrosine were without effect. similar dose of cysteine alone indicating that cysteine owes its protective ability to factors other than its reducing powers. single total-body exposure of 100 r X irradiation. BAL and cyst eine tK CN administered prior to irradiation The cysteine + KCN was comparable toa The rats were given a The oxidizable sulfhydryl content of tissues from irradiated (800 r , total-body) and nonirradiated r a t s show that the sulfhydryl content of the serum, kidney, thymus,small intestine, and liver increased following intravenous injection of cyst eine (950 mgto the kg). effect on the oxidizable sulfhydryl of the control irradiated animals. X irradiation had little Deleterious effects have been noted in the long - term toxicity study of mice intravenously administered polonium chloride. X ray appearance of the long bones appeared in animals that received a s little a s 0.9 micro curies per kg and osteogenic sarcomas occurred in two animals given only 0.46 micro curies per kg. A method of preparation of connective tissue for electron micro g - raphy has been achieved and some preliminary observations have been made using this method. of radiation on connective tissue. sion and configuration of the fi bro cyte s and the relationship of their processes to the structure of the ground substance are underway. This is apart of the general study of the effect Presently, studies to determine extenExperiments are in progress to determine the effects of various Colchicine, in doses rangingagents on the mechanism of cell division. from 0.4 xto 0.67 x 10-7 M, was applied to tissue cultures that had been grown for 24 hours, the time at which mitosis for the normal fibroblasts is at its maximum. contrast cinematographs and stained preparations of the treated cultures. Observations have been made using phaseIt has been observed that cobalt when used as a mordant forms a colorless complex salt with tissue constituents and that the complexes are rendered visible by staining with BAL, The usefulness of this staining method for the fi brill ar portions of the cytoplasm, especially for the staining of the mitotic spindle and centrioles,has been demonstrated. The marked protective effect of cysteine on the survival of tumoi fragments irradiated in vitro with lethal doses of X rays has been demonThe treatment is so effective that cyst eine - treated implants grew

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irradiated equally did not grow. Implants not treated with cysteine but 'When diapause eggs of Melanoplus differentialis are X irradiated with total doses ranging from25,000to200,000r, the hydroquinone oxidase activity i n the eggs is decreased immediately after exposure but the enzyme activity increases with time so that the highest activity is obtained approximately eight days after exposure. A study of the uptake and distribution of 1131 i n thyroid, plasma, and the pituitary of White Leghorn cockerels and capons at several age levels h a s been initiated. of the iodine i n the thyroid is the same in both cockerels and capons, but the accumulation in the pituitary of the cockerels is greater than that in Preliminary data indicate that the concentration Adrenaline was found t o be effective in increasing survival and in decreasing the severity and number of hemorrhages when administered at a time close to that'when 2- to 3-day chicks received a total dose of 1000 r X irradiation at the rate of 43 r per minute. were without effect. Atropine and physostigmine The cooperative programs of the Radiobiology Experiment Station with Eli Lilly and Company and the Departments of Botany and Pharmacology, University of Chicago, a r e continuing. has been established with Abbott Laboratories. rating Co60 and, o r P32 and CI4 in Streptomycin gri seus, one of the sources of vitamin BIZ, is being investigated. poppy, and onion grown in C l4O2-containing atmospheres. are now available to determine the efficiency of the growth chamber. In addition, a cooperative program Harvests have been made of tobacco, sugar beet, alfalfa, opium Preliminary observations have been made on X irradiation effects on cellular expansion. hibition can be reversed following irradiation by addition of growth hormone (auxin) and partly reversed by sulfhydryl activants. C14 labeled auxin has been synthesized and is on hand for further metabolic Within relatively narrow limits of dose, growth inA small quantity of Absorption data for radioactive isotopes have been treated to calculate the maximum energy of beta emitters such as radioactive phosphorus Curvilinear regression techniques employing the method of orthogonal polynomials were used t o establish the empirical relationship between the activity (c is per sec) of a radioactive element and energy (mev). This method deterrnines the maximum energy (i.e., intersection of empirical fitted curve with axis uf energy). The maximum energy of radioactive phosphorus obtained from this regression analysis was 1.69 mev.

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Hydrogen peroxide formation on X irradiation of distilled water was On irra -m ea sure d by color i metric determination a t the end of irradiation. diation with a n intensity of 100.000 r there was formation of 4pg per cc with hard X rays (200 kv), and of 1.3 1-18 with soft Xrays (50 kv, 40 ma). Reduced cytochrome C was easily oxidized on irradiation with hard The oxidation apparently i s produced only by the OH radi - Xrays (200 kv) in proportion t o the intensity of irradiation. produced by 10,000r was completely reversed on addition of a suitable cals given off on irradiation of water. It has been observed that the mating response in Paramecium The diurnal rhythm of the response at Reactions occur only i n phase bursa ria is a function of light. persists for several days in darkness. previously established light-dark cycles and at times corresponding t o the light period at a critical time or by exposure of animals to lower tempera Rhythmicity can be shifted out of phase by a change in the The effect of temperature on Xray inactivation of T - 1 coliphage has been investigated from 77OK t o 3100K. lower temperatures decrease the rate of Xray inactivation. It has been established that the Histological changes in mice from2 months to1year after low doses of plutonium and radium have been observed. spleen was greatly increased after the higher doses of P u and Ra. in hematopoiesis inthe spleen appeared to be compensatory for the continued and progressive depression of the blood-cell-forming mechanism of the bone marrow, hepatic cells ; budding o r elongation, tremendous increase in size and for - mation of very large or many smaller vacuoles. The r e d pulp of the Depletion of the thymus was progressive after Plutonium caused marked changes in the nuclei of some

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Analysis has been made of the body of a dog that received adose of P u equivalent t o 0.058 micrograms : gram body weight in October 1945 and died while giving b i r t h to pups in June 1949. original dose had been excreted during the interval between dose and death, most during the first month. Pu dose was present in the liver and most of the remainder in the bone. Only at race was present in the pups. Twenty-two percent of the Of the P u retained in the animal, '7.6% of the A systematic study of the complexing action of metals with biologically important acids has been initiated t o help in the interpretation of the metabolic behavior of radioelements in the living animal. have been made with calcium citrate and calcium tri carb ally late under physiological conditions of pH and isotonicity. These indicate that forma - tion and stability of the complexes is appreciably affected by the presence Experimental results indicate that the effectiveness of certain zi icon i um compounds for the treatment of plutonium poisoning is due t o the formation of colloidal aggregates of the Zr compounds upon which the P u is ads or bed, followed by excretion of the colloidal aggregates.Zir - conium compounds v a r y in effectiveness depending upon the colloidal propA few preliminary tests have been made initiating a program to determine the possibilities for treatment of radiation sickness by setting up a competing series of chain reactions in the body through administration of reagents such as sodium malonate, sodium fluoroacetate and trace A study of the effect of ACTH on animals has been initiated. Effect of ACTH on the liver, distribution in excretions and survival time are under ob s e r vat ion. ACTH has been administered to a patient suffering from chronic beryllium gran u lo mitosis. i s too early to predict the ultimate effect. tration of ACTH has not changed either the blood o r urine citric acid levels. The patient i s clinically much improved but it It has been found that admin is - It has been demonstrated through tracer studies using radioactive The clinical manilead that Pbis concentrated in cells soon after intake. festations of lead poisoning result from a nele ~ atio nin the plasma level of as compared with a half-life of about 3 0 minutes from the plasma. lstration of a citrate or other alkalizing agent probably interferes with The half - life of disappearance of P b from the cells i s about 50hours

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discharge of Pb from bone. rate of P …