UNCLASSIFIED
ic
II - BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Research Activities
Toxicity studies at ANL.
Considerable research at Arge
National Laboratory has been aimed at counteracting the effects
ment of experimental plutonium and yttrium poisoning by zirconi
hour after plutonium injections caused: (a) a marked increase in] plutonium
excretion (from approximately 1.3 percent to as much as 50-60 pefcent of
injected dose); and (b) a decrease in the amounts deposited in the bone
(from approximately 65 percent-to 10 percent of the dose). The ¢ffect
on yttrium is similar but less marked.
In mice injected repeatedly with an LD-95 of beryllium
gulfate
(0.7 milligrams of beryllium per kilogram body weight), it was f@und that
administration of avrintricarboxylic acid following each beryllidm injection not only protected the animals but enabled them to survive wfhile
still containing lethal amounts of beryllium.
Studies elucidatiig the
mode of action of ATA have provided a rational basis for the seldction of
other compounds of potential therapeutic value. The studies hav@ also
given insight into some of the chemical mechanisms involved in md@talenzyme interaction.
Studies on passive immunity. Experiments at Brookhaven Netional
Laboratory have been conducted to test the effect of whole body danma irradiation on immunity mechanisms. A cobalt 60 source was used fdr the
studies and radiation dosages of approximately 650 roentgens equivalent
physical {the LD-50 being 750 reps) were administered to mice.
finding suggests that the lowered antibacterial resistance follo
body irradiatigqn is attributable primarily to the failure of phagpbcytosis
by reason of the white cell deficiency, and that this phagocytosif may not
be necessary in antiviral immunity or in prevention of intoxicatibbn by
tetanus toxin.
Photosynthesis and antibiotics.
At the Radiation Laborafory,
University of California (Berkeley), the effects of antibiotics afd other
biological inhibitors on photosynthesis and dark COo fixation are] being
investigated. The plant used for test is the alga Scenedesmus.
Phe antibiotics used were chloromycetin, penicillin, aureomycin, and terrgmycin.
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the time of irradiation. Taken together with other bits of evidence, this
Several anti-folic compounds and dinitrophenol were also tested. While
UNCLASSIFIED
AOE AR
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