In order to study the histological effects; of therapeutic doses -of 60Cobalt-teleirradiation to the rats after daily tissue doses of 200 Tads, to 3 x 5cms fields to the lower abdomen, to total doses of 200, 600, 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 rads, the lower abdominal skin, vagina, uterine cervix, uterine corpus, oviducts, ovaries, urinary bladder, rectum and bone marrow were extirpated, after sacrificing the animals 24 hours after the last dose, and microscopically examined after ordinary tissue preparatory processing.
The experiment ´led to the following conclusions:
1) 60Cobalt-teleirradiated rat skin showed disappearance of the stratum corneum and stratum granulosum, chromatolysis, piknosis and vacuolization of the epidermal and hair follicle epithelium after doses of 1000 to 4000 rads.
2) 60Cobalt-teleirradiated rat vagina and uterine cervix disclosed desquamation of the cornifying layer, degenerative changes of the mucosal epithelium and mucosal thinning after doses of 1000 to 2000 cads.
3) The mucosa of the corpus uteri and the- oviducts irradiated with sOCobalt - revealed slight cellular degeneration after 3000 to 4000 rads. These organs therefore appear to be the most radioresistant within the female reproductive system.
4) SCCobalt-teleirradiated ovaries showed marked degeneration of ovocytes and follicular cells throughout the range of primitive to mature follicles after doses of 600 rads.
5) The mucosa of the rectum was relatively more radioresistant- than that of the urinary bladder. 6QCobalt-irradiated urinary bladder showed slight degeneration of the mucosal epithelium after doses of 1000 rads.
6) The mean peripheral leukocyte count was depressed severely after 200´rads, as expected
with the known high radiosensitivity of lymphocytes. Marked alterations of the bone marrow were observed after doses of 200 rads.
The first of the blood-forming cells destroyed were the erythroblasts and hemocytoblasts,
mexte the myelocytes and finally the megakaryocytes.
7) Microscopical findings showed an overall tendency of the ovaries, skin, vagina and the uterine cervix to be much more immediately radiosensitive- than the corpus uteri, oviduct, urinary bladder and rectum.
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