The assessment of recovery of the intestine after acute radiation injury.

Several aspects of intestinal function and morphology are affected by acute radiation damage, including changes in the activity of proliferative cells in the crypts, immune cell populations, and the transport of various substrates. This study was designed to compare the time course of the recovery of intestinal proliferation, transport, and leukocyte population following radiation injury. Rats received a single dose of 6 Gy to the abdomen from a 137Cs source and were studied 3, 7, and 14 days later. No changes in the passive uptake of L-glucose or D-leucine were observed in the jejunum. Active transport of D-glucose and maximal water uptake were reduced at 3 days but had returned to normal by 7 days, whereas L-leucine uptake required more than 7 days to return to control levels. Mucosal permeability, assessed by an in vivo potential difference technique, remained increased 7 days after irradiation. Ornithine decarboxylase, an indicator of DNA synthetic activity, was elevated following radiation treatment and remained so even after 14 days. By comparison, myeloperoxidase activity, used as a quantitative monitor of granulocyte numbers, was still reduced after 7 days. These data indicate that while certain parameters of gut function may return to normal soon after radiation injury, the recovery of other factors is more prolonged. Thus the return of transport function to normal values post irradiation may be viewed as an adaptive change rather than simply the recovery of the tissue.