Abstract
BACTERIAL endotoxins, zymosan and other complex polysaccharides are stimulants of the reticulo-endothelial system1,2. This follows from the enhanced phagocytic activity as measured by the rate of removal from the blood of intravenously injected carbon3. But these substances also have a radiation protective effect, as has been found with mice, rats and hamsters4. Therefore, it is accepted that this radiation protective effect is causally connected with the enhanced activity of the reticulo-endothelial system and that, in general, the radiation resistance of an organism with an augmented activity of the reticulo-endothelial system is greater than with a normal activity state of this unspecific defence system5. This concept is in agreement with the conjecture that the prime cause of death after whole-body X-irradiation depends primarily on the exhaustion of certain cells originating in the reticulo-endothelial system6.
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References
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FLEMMING, K. Radiation Protective Effect and Pharmacologically Changed Activity of the Reticulo-endothelial System. Nature 200, 1117–1118 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/2001117a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2001117a0
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