Effect of X-Irradiation on the Function of Adrenal Autotransplants in the Rat

¹ From the Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

Adrenalectomized rats having intramuscular autotransplants of adrenocortical tissue regenerated from adrenal glands x-irradiated with 2000 r in vitro immediately prior to implantation did not survive as well nor gain weight as rapidly as did control rats with nonirradiated transplants. Moreover, at 14 days after operation they were more susceptible to histamine poisoning, water intoxication and exposure to cold, having little or no advantage over adrenalectomized rats in withstanding the first two stresses. The impairment in function was correlated with reduction in mass of secreting adrenocortical tissue, and presumably decrease in circulating level of corticosteroids, resulting from delayed regeneration of the x-irradiated transplants. Rats with intramuscular transplants regenerating in sites locally x-irradiated with 2000 r just before implantation of the glands withstood histamine poisoning at 14 days after operation as well as did their controls. Rats with subcutaneous transplants in the ears x-irradiated with 2000 r at 28 days after operation (established transplants) and tested 2 weeks later responded to exposure to cold like their controls.