Combined Surgical and Radiation Injury. III. The Effect of Pre-irradiation Radioprotective Drug Treatment

Summary The radioprotective compounds studied do not alter the wound healing pattern in the nonirradiated rat when wounding follows drug administration by 4 days. These compounds also do not demonstrate any deleterious interaction with wounding under these circumstances. The radioprotective compounds studied promoted the wound healing pattern of irradiated, wounded rats toward the pattern of nonirradiated wounded rats. The increased mortality observed with the combination of a nonlethal surgical wound and radiation was not observed in animals treated prior to radiation with the radioprotective agents studied (MEA, serotonin, and WR 2721-C).