In the absence of supportive care, exposing Gttingen minipigs to -radiation doses of less than 2 Gy achieves lethality due to hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome. Doses of 2 to 5 Gy are associated with an accelerated hematopoietic syndrome, characterized by villus blunting and fusion, the beginning of sepsis, and a mild transient reduction in plasma citrulline concentration. We exposed male Gttingen minipigs (age, 5 mo; weight, 9 to 11 kg) to -radiation doses of 5 to 12 Gy (total body; (60)Co, 0.6 Gy/min) to test whether these animals exhibit classic gastrointestinal acute radiation syndrome (GI-ARS). After exposure, the minipigs were monitored for 10 d by using clinical signs, CBC counts, and parameters associated with the development of the gastrointestinal syndrome. Gttingen minipigs exposed to radiation of 5 to 12 Gy demonstrate a dose-dependent occurrence of all parameters classically associated with acute GI-ARS. These results suggest that Gttingen minipigs may be a suitable model for studying GI-ARS after total body irradiation, but the use of supportive care to extend survival beyond 10 d is recommended. This study is the first step toward determining the feasibility of using Gttingen minipigs in testing the efficacy of candidate drugs for the treatment of GI-ARS after total body irradiation.
Elliott, T. B., Deutz, N. E., Gulani, J., Koch, A., Olsen, C. H., Christensen, C., ... Moroni, M.
citation count
27
complete list of authors
Elliott, Thomas B||Deutz, Nicolaas E||Gulani, Jatinder||Koch, Amory||Olsen, Cara H||Christensen, Christine||Chappell, Mark||Whitnall, Mark H||Moroni, Maria
