Protein catabolism in young mice following whole-body x irradiation.

A survey of the literature on the effects of bombardment of high-energy charged particles upon body composition in mammals following wholebody irradiation indicates that there are a number of areas in which, at most, only scant information exists. One of the most satisfactory approaches for obtaining valid physiological and biochemical data based on kinetic studies of cellular, tissue, and compartmental transfer and exchange of many elements and compounds is through the use of reproducible radioisotopic technics. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of whole-body x irradiation on protein degradation in young mice. For this purpose 131I-Iabeled albumin was administered to nonirradiated and to irradiated mice, and the biological half -life was then determined by counting in a small-anmial whole-body gamma spectrometer. The biological half-life for human 131I albumin in mice has been reported by Terres et al. (1) to be 14.5 ±0.5 hours. In another study Melcher and his colleagues (2) also uti...