Electrolytes and Water in Muscles of Rat Forelimb After Intense Local X Irradiation.

Abstract

Summary Intense radiation up to 73 kr was applied locally to the forelimb muscles in a rat with its body otherwise shielded. Observations were confined to limbs not subjected to active fatigue following X-ray exposure. For up to 22 hr after exposure the muscles remain functional. However, the radiation produces marked extracellular edema as measured by inulin space and Na²⁴ space determinations. The muscle fibers lose no K per unit dry weight but may possibly gain minimal Na as Na²⁴.