Effect of Post-treatment with Erythropoietin(s) on Survival and Erythropoietic Recovery in Irradiated Mice

DEATHS from acute radiation injury with doses of 500–1,000 r. are assumed to be a consequence of a typical bone-marrow syndrome characterized by septicaemia, haemorrhagic diathesis and anaemia. Attempts have been made to alleviate these conditions. Antibiotics have been used successfully to prevent septicaemia 1,2 , but the excellent results from the injection of fresh haemopoietic tissue 3,4 are complicated by the fact that the irradiated animals recover their ability to react against foreign proteins 5 . This may result in a homograft reaction in the recipient 6,7 . Agents have therefore been sought to induce recovery in the bone-marrow of irradiated animals 8–10 . Stimulation of erythropoiesis in sub-lethally irradiated rats by anaemic plasma was presumed to be caused by its erythropoeitin content 11 , but no systematic investigation has been made to test the value of erythropoietin(s) in radiation injury. This investigation was undertaken to examine the effect of post-treatment with erythropoietin(s) on the survival and erythropoietic recovery of lethally irradiated mice.