Studies on the Metabolism of Mucopolysaccharides and Polysaccharides Associated with Collagen after Whole-body X-irradiation

Rats were injected with sulphate-35S and/or glucose-U-14C, were exposed to x-rays two or three days later, and were sacrificed two or three days after exposure. Sulphate and hexosamine were isolated from mucopolysaccharides of bone and skin, and hexosamine was also isolated from soluble and insoluble collagen of skin and from total collagen of bone. On the basis of the changes in the specific activity of these compounds after irradiation, it was concluded that the replacement of mucopolysaccharides is partially inhibited after x-irradiation. The changes in the specific activity of hexosamine associated with collagen were not marked, but exhibited a trend similar to that observed previously in amino-acid residues of collagen from irradiated rats.