Radiation, Infection, and Macrophage Function IV. Effect of Radiation on the Proliferative Abilities of Mononuclear...

Rabbits were irradiated with 400 to 600 rads 2 to 3 days before they were infected with BCG or with virulent tubercle bacilli. Biopsies were periodically removed from the resulting lesions and incubated for 1 hr with (3)H-thymidine in vitro under hyperbaric oxygen. Twelve to 16 days after radiation there was a reduction in the percentage of mononuclear cells (macrophages and some lymphocytes) that had incorporated (3)H-thymidine in the lesions. At this time, the lesions of the irradiated group were smaller than those of controls. These results can be explained by the reduction in the number of new mononuclear cells that entered the lesions of the irradiated group and support the tenet that local mononuclear cell division occurs mainly in cells that have recently emigrated from the blood stream. An alternate, but less likely, explanation of these results would be that radiation caused the bone marrow to release a higher percentage of "defective" mononuclear cells that were unable to divide, i.e., incorporate (3)H-thymidine, in the lesions. The reduction produced by radiation in both local cell infiltration and local cell division would decrease the number of macrophages available to control the tuberculous infection in the host.