Antibody Production in Mice Exposed Intermittently to Radium Gamma Rays

Abstract

Summary

Exposure of groups of mice to a radium source providing 8.8 r or 2.2 r per 8 hour day for 51 days resulted in significantly lowered antibody titers. In these experiments the mice were immunized on the third day after the end of the radiation exposure and the serums were sampled on the 5th day after immunization. Antibody titers and leucocyte counts following a single exposure of the mice to an acute X-ray dose 4 days after the end of an intermittent exposure to 450 r of radium gamma rays provided no evidence that the prior exposure produced an altered radiation sensitivity to either the hematopoietic process or the process of hemolysin production. The possibility that antibody synthesis in response to sheep erythrocyte antigen and leucocyte production are independent processes during the recovery from irradiation is discussed.