Lymphoid Tumours and Leukaemia Induced in Mice by Bone-seeking Radionucleides

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Abstract
Single i.p. doses of soluble 90Sr and monomeric 239Pu induced generalized lymphomatosis in laboratory mice. Leukemogenesis due to soluble 226Ra was more uncertain. Clinical expression was variable but generally the disease was a lymphosarcoma with hematogenous (leukemic) spread. Only rarely, unlike the commonly recorded forms of natural and X-ray-induced lymphosarcomas, was the thymus apparently the site of onset. The cell type was lymphoblastic of undifferentiated null form (not T, not B). The average doses of .alpha.- or .beta.-radiation accumulated in the bone marrow, the presumed site of induction, were at the time of diagnosis usually more than 2500 rad. If the cases occurring after 226Ra or low activities of 239Pu are accepted as induced; 300-1500 rad of .alpha.-radiation was the average dose. Mice converted to chimaeras only rarely exhibited any lymphoma, general or local. Abdominal lymphomas were not numerically increased by these radionuclides (perhaps due to shortening of life-span) though some may have been prematurely induced.
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