About the post-radiation continuity of metabolic and adaptive processes

Experiments have been performed on 794 pubescent “Vistar” line male rats. Radiation injury was simulated in two variants of single remote total body exposure (dose rate - 0.23 Gy/min) and abdominal region exposure (dose rate - 1.19 Gy/min) to gamma radiation at a dose of 6.5 Gy. The development of radiation syndrome was followed-up for 30 days with recording of the clinical manifestations, peripheral blood composition, and hystopathologic feature of the small intestine. Both variants of irradiation developed a characteristic picture of acute radiation sickness of moderate degree. Absorption of labeled lipids, vitamin B 12 and iron inside the intestine was studied during a follow-up in control (on healthy rats) and on obtained models of radiation injury using two methods of radiometry: measurements of rats’ feces radioactivity and whole body radioactivity. These models of radiation injury indicated that uptake of the above mentioned labeled specimens was suppressed. The comparison of radiometric findings that were obtained with two methods brought some new insights into fundamentals of the post-radiation pathological process, which enabled to draw integral conclusions concerning some systemic and time features. The synchronism and direction coincidence of the disturbance and restoration effects of absorption and excretion of biochemically different (lipids, coenzyme, mineral) and similar (triacylglycerol and nonsaturated fatty acid) substances after local and total body irradiation reflect the homeostatic continuity of anabolism and catabolism, reserve post- radiation adaptive mechanisms.