Radiation-induced Acute Necrosis of the Pancreatic Islet and the Diabetic Syndrome in the Golden Hamster (Mesocricetus Auratus)
- 1 January 1981
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Radiation Biology and Related Studies in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine
- Vol. 40 (1) , 95-106
- https://doi.org/10.1080/rab.40.1.95.106
Abstract
Exposure of golden hamsters to 35 000 rad of X-rays induced acute and specific necrosis of the cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas within 4 hours, whereas no other tissue revealed any drastic changes which would lead to a critical illness until 36 hours. Animals began to show the characteristic signs of diabetes, that is, hyperglycaemia, hyperkaliemia, ketonemia, and acidosis at 12 hours and these continued until death, 56 - 8 hours later. These were accompanied by the disappearance of g -cell granules and a decrease of plasma insulin. Treatment of irradiated animals with injections of insulin resulted in a reduction in high blood glucose and the prolongation of survival time up to 5 days, which is comparable to the survival time when the cause of death is gastrointestinal. It is concluded that this radiation-induced diabetic syndrome resulted from acute necrosis of the cells of the islets of Langerhans, a previously unreported lethal effect of radiation in golden hamsters.Keywords
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