Effect of Internal Emitters on Red Cell and Plasma Volumes of Beagle Dogs.

Abstract

Simultaneous red cell and plasma volumes were measured respectively with Cr51 and 1131 in normal and internally irradiated (injected with plutonium, radium, radiothorium or mesothorium) Beagle dogs. In 22 irradiated anemic dogs (34 determinations) venous hematocrits were higher (36.5 ml/kg 1 5.3) than total body hematocrits (32.1 ml/kg [plus or minus] 5.2) with hematocrit ratio of 0.88 [plus or minus] 0.10 compared to control of 0.99 [plus or minus] .09. The venous hematocrits in anemic dogs correlated better with the red cell volume (r = 0.690, P = .001) than in controls (r = 0.369, P = .01). Since plasma volumes did not change in the anemic groups (53.3 mlAg [plus or minus] 11.1) compared to controls (51.4 ml/kg[plus or minus] 12.4) there is probably a shift of red cells into larger caliber veins.