Early experimental studies on hemoperfusion as a treatment modality for acute radiation disease.

First results of the studies on hemoperfusion therapy of acute radiation disease that were conducted in Kiev in 1976 are presented. In these studies, 69 mongrel dogs were exposed to irradiation at a dose of 525 rad (5.25 Gy). It was proved that hemoperfusion through uncoated synthetic activated carbons led to a noticeable increase in their survival rate, from 3.2% in the control group (n = 31) to 68.4% and 62.4% for the dogs that received extracorporeal treatment at 2 h (n = 19) and 24 h (n = 19) after irradiation, respectively.

[The biological effects in animals related to the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station. 1. The experimental model. The radiation loads on animals kept continuously under external and internal radiation exposure in the area of the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station]. / Biologicheskie éffekty u zhivotnykh v sviazi s avariei na Chernobyl'skoi AES. Soobshchenie 1. Model' éksperimenta. Radiatsionnye nagruzki u zhivotnykh, postoianno nakhodivshikhsia v usloviiakh vneshnego i vnutrennego radiatsionnogo vozdeistviia v zone ChAES.

Irradiation conditions in which laboratory animals were kept in experimental laboratories of Chernobyl and Kiev after the accident at the Chernobyl A.P.S. are described. The data are presented on the spectral structural and activity of radionuclides in the diet as well as in the organs and tissues of the animals. The radiation loads have been estimated with regard to an external gamma component and the internal one contributed by the incorporated radionuclides. It has been shown that radiation doses received by the animals during their lifetime due to these contributions do not exceed units of cGy.

[The biological effects in animals related to the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station. 2. The state of bone marrow hematopoiesis in rats]. / Biologicheskie éffekty u zhivotnykh v sviazi s avariei na Chernobyl'skoi AES. Soobshchenie 2. Sostoianie kostnomozgovogo krovetvoreniia u krys.

It has been shown that rats born during the first months after the Chernobyl A.P.S. disaster exhibit essential changes in the peripheral blood and bone marrow haemopoiesis throughout the entire lifetime. Rats brought up in Chernobyl from the age of three months on display even more pronounced changes. It is assumed that the changes in the haemopoiesis develop due to the continuous influence of low-level radiation of different quality and are attributed to the effect of the incorporated radionuclides.

[The biological effects in animals in relation to the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station. 5. Longevity and the carcinogenic effects]. / Biologicheskie éffekty u zhivotnykh v sviazi s avariei na Chernobyl'skoi AES. Soobshchenie 5. Prodolzhitel'nost' zhizni i kantserogennye éffekty.

Remote effects in laboratory animals living in conditions of exposure to a mixture of external and internal radiation resulted from the Chernobyl A.P.S. disaster have been investigated. It has been found that the rate of deaths from non-tumor illnesses grows, the incidence of neoplasms increases and their latency time decreases. The redistribution within the spectrum of benign and malignant tumors and the increase in the multiplicity coefficient have been revealed. It is concluded that chronic exposure of animals to low-level radiation from the radionuclides, resulted from the accident, brings about a much larger number of negative stochastic and nonstochastic remote effects as compared to those expected from the extrapolation of the effects produced by high radiation doses.