possible alternations in rat liver, plasma and spleen phospholipids following whole-body gamma-irradiation

ABSTRACT

Plasma, lier and spleen phospholipids [lysophosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine] of female rats were determined at one, 3, 7 and 14 day after whole-body iradiation at 6 Gy. Hepatic lysophosphalidylcholine in irradiated groups was only decreased after 7 and 14 days below the control values. Plasma lysophosphatidylcholine, on the other hand, showed initially an increase on 1st and 3rd day with a subsequent drop on 7th day postirradiation. Then, it increased at the end of observation period, even though, it was still significantly lower than the preirradiated values. Meanwhile, spleen lysophosphatidylcholine was moderately affected in irradiated groups. Hepatic sphingomyelins were increased in response to -irradiation after 3-14 days. This was accompanied by a progressive decrease in their level in plasma in plasma 7 and 14 days postirradiation. In spleen, their level was markedly dropped after 14 days. The most prominent effect of -irradiation was noted on cholne-containing phospholipids. Plasma and liver phosphatidylcholines were markedly increased on the 1st and 3rd day postirradiation. They diminished thereafter, they wewre still markedly high in the iver and became low in the plasma at the end of observation as compared to control values. In spleen, their level was increased after 7 days and markedly decreased thereafter. In liver, -irradiation resulted in significant increases inphosphatidylethanolamine similar to those exhibited by phosphatidylcholine throughout the postexposure. On the contrary, significant decreases were noted in plasma and spleen at the end of observation. In both plasma, liver and spleen, total phospholipids in irradiated animals exhibited similar changes to those given by phosphatidylcholines. Possible explanations of these findings are discussed