Influence of an Alkaline Solution on Tissue Toxicity of Uranium Nitrate

Abstract

The observation was made in this laboratory 1 that a solution of sodium carbonate would not only protect the kidney against the toxic action of a uranium salt but that it would furthermore protect it against the injurious effect of a general anesthetic body. The first part of this observation was confirmed by Goto 2 and very recently further extended by the studies of Donnelly and Holman 3 who were able to demonstrate a similar order of protection from a solution of sodium citrate. In a later paper 4 these authors and their associates attempt an explanation for this phenomenon of protection. They attribute it not to the action of a solution of sodium citrate as an alkaline medium but they believe that their “data on sodium citrate protection against uranium injury point to the maintenance of one or more vital equilibria (possibly the‘citric acid cycle of carbohydrate metabolism) while the normal processes of repair are taking place, for we have no evidence that repair is accelerated or altered in any way.” It becomes difficult to see how these authors could come to such a conclusion without employing control experiments in which sodium carbonate 1 or sodium bicarbonate 2 were used as agents to induce protection against uranium. Such an observation is especially appropriate when the fact is well established that citrates are rapidly and completely changed in the tissues to carbonates.

The way in which an alkaline solution protects the kidney, the liver and likely other tissues against a uranium injury is not known. It is furthermore not known how uranium induces its injury. Holman and Douglas 5 have shown they were able to recover from 31 to 88% of uranium nitrate from the urine of dogs during the first 24 hours of an intoxication by 5 mg of this substance per kg of weight.