Asling, C.W.

Garrison, W.M.

Hamilton, J.G.

Heller, D. Axelrod

Scott, K.G.

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Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryRecent WorkTitleThe Destructive Action of Astatine 211 (Element 85) on the Thyroid Gland of the RatPermalinkhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/53s9x42zAuthorsHamilton, J.G.Asling, C.W.Garrison, W.M.et al.Publication Date1949-10-01eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital LibraryUniversity of CaliforniaI .. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA TWO-WEEK LOAN COPY This is a Library Circulating Copy which may be borrowed for two weeks. For a personal retention copy, call Tech. Info. Division, Ext. 5545 BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA UCRL._,.,4ir-77--=--_ Cy.Q DISCLAIMER This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government. While this document is believed to contain conect information, neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor the Regents of the University of California, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by its trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof, or the Regents of the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof or the Regents of the University of California. UNIVERSITY 0 F CALIFORNIA Radie.tion Laboratory UCRL-477 Unclassified Distribution Contract No. W-7405-eng-48A-I THE DESTRUCTIVE ACTION OF ASTATINE211 (ELEMENT 85) ON THE THYROID GLAND OF T.i:E RAT J. G. Hamilton, C. W. Asling, w. M. Garrison, K. G. Scott and D. Axelrod Heller October 1, 1949 Berkeley, California Installation Argonne National Laboratory Armed Forces Special Weapons Project Atomic Energy Commission, Washington Battelle Memorial Institute Brookhaven l~ational Laboratory Bureau ofMedicine and Surgery Bureau of Ships Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation (K-25) Carbide and Carbon Chanicals Corporation (Y-12) Chicago Operations Office Cleveland Area Office Columbia University (Dunning) Columbia University (Failla) Dow Che.mical,Company General b~ectric Company, Richland Hanford Operations Office Idaho Operations Office Iowa State College Kansas Ci. ty Kellex Corporation Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory Los Alamos Mallinckrodt Chemical Works Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Gaudin) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Kaufmann) Mound Laboratory National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics National Bureau of Standards Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory NEPA Project New Brunswick Laboratory New York Operations Office North American Aviation, Inc. Oak Ridge National Laboratory Patent Advisor:, Washington Rand Corporation Sandia Base Sylvania Electric Products, Inc. Technical Information Branch, ORE U. S. Public Health Service UCLA Medical Research Laboratory (Warren) University of California Radiation Laboratory University of Rochester University of Washington West ern Reserve Uni ve rsi ty ( Fri edell ) Westinghouse UCRL-477 Unclassified Distribution Page 2 No. of Copies 8 1 2 1 8 1 1 4 4 1 1 1 1 1 6 1 l 2 1 2 4 3 1 1 1 3 2 2 2 2 1 5 1 8 1 1 1 l 15 l 1 5 2 1 2 4 Total 119 Radiation Laboratory University of California Berkeley, California TlfE PESTRUCTIVE ACTI0N OF ASTATINE211 (ELEMENT 85) ON TlfE THYROID GLAND OF THE RAT UCRL 477 J. G. Hamilton, C. W. Asling, W. M. Garrison, K. G. Scott and D.Axelrod Heller Divisions of Medical Physics, Experimental Medicine, Radiology, Anatomy, the Institute of Experimental Biology, Radiation Laboratory and the Crocker Laboratory; University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco. October 1, 1949 The observation that astatine accumulates in the thyroid suggests that this new element might be of possible therapeutic application in hyperthyroidism as has ' already been demonstrated in the case of radio iodine1' 2 • Astatine is not only radioactive with a half life of 7.5 hours3, but unlike most of the artificial radio-elements, it emits alpha particles* rather than el.ectrons and gamma rays. 211 The radiobiological significance of the fact that astatine emits alpha particles is that each of these nuclear particles arising from the disintegration of an a.statine nucleus will dissipate an initial kinetic energy of 6 Mev in about 50 microns of a soft tissue such as the thyroid. The beta rays from the 8-day radio-iodine,·r131, possess a maximum energy of .6 Mev with a range of nearly 2,000 microns of tissue. Methode. The At211 was produced by the bombardment of bismuth by 29 Mev alpha particles from the 6o inch cyclotron at the Crocker La.boratory. The aatatine211 was distilled from the bismuth target and collected in 12 N HCl, which in turn was diluted and made isotonic by the addition of an appropriate quantity of sodium hydroxide. The procedures outlined above were derived from a report by Segre and his co-workers which describes the nuclear and chemical properties of astatine4• *In addition there are emitted X-rays of 80 Kev which makes possible in vivo thyroid uptake studies in man2. 1 Hamilton, J. G.' and Soley, M. H • , Proc • Nat. Acad. Sci. 1940, 26, 433. 2 Hamilton, J. G., Radiology 1942, 39, 541. 3 Seaberg, G. T., and Perlman, I., Rev. Mod. Phya. 1948, 20, 585. 4' Johnson, G. L., Leininger, R. F., and Segre, E., J. Chem. Phya • 1949, 17, 1 UCRL 477 Preliminary thyroid uptake studies in the rat revealed that in a group of eight 200 gram animals of both sexes that from 2% to 8% of the administered astatine211 was present in the thyroid at the end of 18 hourg5, the necessary corrections for the decay of the asta.tine211 having been applied. These values are comparable to the results obtained in earlier studies in which guinea pigs were employed as the experimental animals1 . Three 200 gram white rats 1~ere selected to observe the radio- biological action of the alpha particle irradiation of the thyroid from the accumulated astatine211. The astatine211 in an isotonic solution of NaCl was administered to two of the rats by intraperitoneal injection. They received 10 ~ and 50~ respectively. The third animal was used as a control. After thirty days the three animals were sacrificed and the thyroids removed. The tissue was fixed, embedded in paraffin, and the sections stained with haemotoxylin and eosin for histological study. The sections were cut in such a manner that from each of the three thyroids a portion of the parathyroid was included. Results. Photomicrographs of the sections from the control, 10 ~c, and 50 ~c studies are shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 respectively. At the 10 microcurie dosage level it is apparent that there was a me.rked degree of injury to the thyroid follicles as evidenced by their diminished size, loss of colloid, an increase in size of the follicular epithelium, Fig. 2. The genera.l thyroid architecture is distorted to such a degree that it would seem· probable t..'l1at in this instance the degree of radiation injury approached a level of being totally irreversible even if a recovery period of from six months to a year had been allowed. The adjacent parathyroid tissue did not reveal any observable changes that would suggest radia-tion injury to this organ. The thyroid tissue in the rat which received 50 micro-211 curies of astatine is not recognizable as such. Here there is complete oblitera-tion of the follicles, colloid, and follicular epithelium. The thyroid tissue has 5 Unpublished data. UCRL 477 been replaced by fibrous tissue with some infiltration of lymphocytes and fat cells. In this instance it appears that a complete and irreversible destruction of the thyroid gland took place, as a result of an extreme degree of radiation injury. It is significant to note that there was no histological evidence of manifest radiation injury in the adjoining parathyroid tissue. The results from this preliminary study demonstrate the capacity of astatine to induce an extreme degree of radiation injury of the thyroid gland in the rat without apparent involvement of the adjoining parathyroid gland. This document is based on work performed under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission. 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The Destructive Action of Astatine 211 (Element 85) on the Thyroid Gland of the Rat

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The Destructive Action of Astatine 211 (Element 85) on the Thyroid Gland of the Rat

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