The effect of preirradiation application of aspartic acid salts on hemopoietic recovery in X-irradiated mice.

The possibility of radioprotective action of K and Mg aspartate administered in tap water for ten days prior to X-irradiation was investigated in male mice of the strain C 57 Bl/10. In normal animals, thymus weight was found to be increased by 10-day treatment with K and Mg aspartate. The postirradiation regeneration of spleen weight and incorporation of radioactive iron into the spleen and femoral marrow following sublethal irradiation was favorably modified by the treatment used. Pretreatment of mice with K and Mg aspartate delays the onset of early deaths at irradiation with an absolutely lethal X-ray exposure and raises the percentage of surviving animals after nearly lethal exposures.