This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

JAMES E. McDONALD, M.D.

AMA Arch Ophthalmol. 1954;51(3):301-310.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THE SEARCH for a chemical agent which protects the body against ionizing radiations gained widespread practical significance with the atomic explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These fission reactions release large amounts of ionizing radiations, such as gamma rays, neutrons, and beta rays,* which can affect the eye. A total of 104 radiation cataracts were reported at Hiroshima, and therefore the problem of chemical prophylaxis becomes of interest to the ophthalmologist.

In 1950 Bacq and his co-workers³ reported that sodium or potassium cyanide in small doses increased the survival rate in mice subsequently exposed to 500-600 r of x-radiation. None of the control animals survived, whereas 50 to 80% of the animals pretreated with cyanide survived. In 1949 Patt and his associates⁴ showed that cysteine hydrochloride given intravenously in rats was highly protective against 800 r of x-rays administered subsequently, raising the survival rate from 19%, in the unprotected . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
OAK PARK, ILL.

From the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois College of Medicine.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?