Experimental Studies on the Mechanism of Action of Benzene on the Bone Marrow (Radioautographic Studies Using 3H-Thymidine)

Abstract

In rabbits intoxicated by means of subcutaneous benzene injections, numeric studies of the labeled bone marrow cells after intravenous incubation with %-thymidine were performed. There was a marked individual difference of sensitivity to the same dosis of benzene. A severe peripheral pancytopenia resulted in all the animals within 1-9 weeks. The bone marrow became hypoplastic in about 1/2 of the animals and it remained cellular in the other 1/2. This is in agreement with the findings in chronic human benzene intoxication. For the first time it was shown radioautographically with 3H-thymidine that the pancytopenia of chronic benzene poisoning is due to a severe inhibition of DNA-synthesis in the bone marrow cells. The severe disturbance of DNA-synthesis may also be 1 of the factors which could give rise to the development of leukemia.