[Proteinase inhibitors of the blood plasma in the early period of the development of acute radiation sickness in monkeys].

A study was made of the postirradiation kinetics of blood antiproteinase activity in monkeys (Macaca nemestrina). Whole-body uniform gamma-irradiation (LD100/45) was shown to induce a significant decrease in the activity of alpha 2-macroglobulin during the first 24 h following irradiation: the decreased activity level was retained throughout the entire latent period of radiation sickness. At the height of radiation sickness (the 7th-10th day) up to the animals' death, a sharp increase was registered in the activity of alpha 1-inhibitor of blood plasma proteinases. The authors discuss a pathogenetic role of the diminution of the inhibitory potential of blood in the course of radiation sickness.