Inhibitory Effect of Tritiated Thymidine on Regeneration of the Liver in the Young Rat.

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Abstract
Tritiated thymidine (360 mc/m[image]) when given to young male rats intraperitoneally in doses of 1.0 [mu]C or greater/g body wt. at 20 hours after 66% partial hepatectomy, causes transient inhibition of hepatic regeneration as indicated by rate of increase of residual liver weight, time sequence of mitotic rate, and presence of abnormal mitoses. As compared to control animals injected with non-radioactive thymidine, regeneration of hepatic tissue was significantly depressed by wt. at 32, 38 and 44 hours after hepatectomy, but reached control levels by 56 hours after hepatectomy. The appearance of mitoses was delayed for 6 to 12 hours in the animals receiving radioactive thymidino at the above dose-levels. After re-establishment of mitoses, a rebound peak occurred and the level remained significantly elevated above the control level for the entire period studied. From 28 to 44% of anaphase mitotic figures were abnormal in animals receiving 1.0 [mu]C or greater tritiated thymidine/gm body wt., as compared to 4 to 5% in controls. Doses of 0.3 [mu]C tritiated thymidine/g body wt. resulted in none of the above manifestations of radiation damage and gave adequate autoradiographs. To prevent the possibility of radiation damage in similar experiments the lower dose of tritiated thymidine should be used.