Electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes from adeturone-pretreated rats exposed to gamma or high-energy protons.

Change in electrophoretic mobility (EM) of erythrocytes was studied 6 hours after rats were exposed to a dose range (0.5-4 Gy) of high-energy protons (9 GeV/nucleon) or gamma rays (0.660 MeV), with or without adeturone pretreatment (300 mg/kg body weight). With either of the two radiation types used, EM of the cells was observed to undergo significant dose-related decline. As indicated by our findings, adeturone pretreatment failed to contribute to maintenance of normal erythrocyte surface charge in the case of proton irradiation, proving, nevertheless, effective against gamma-ray exposure at all dose levels used.