Ultrastructure of erythroblast mitochondria in mice treated with mixtures of radioprotectors

Unirradiated mice were given i.p. a mixture of mexamine (20 mg/kg body weight) and AET (150 mg/kg body weight) or mexamine (20 mg/kg body weight) and cystamine (150 mg/kg body weight). Acute effects of these mixtures of radioprotective agents on the ultrastructure of basophilic and polychromatic bone marrow erythroblast mitochondria were studied. One hour after injecting mice with above-mentioned mixtures, statistically significant differences in the size of mitochondria were found between control mice and mice given a mixture of mexamine and cystamine. The differences in the number of dilated cristae per micron 2 of the mitochondrion area between control mice and both experimental groups given mixtures of radioprotective agents were also statistically significant. Thus it was proved that also mixtures of radioprotectors induced acute ultrastructural changes of mitochondria which were so far described only after treating mice with only one radioprotective agent.