Purine metabolizing enzyme activities in radiosensitive tissues of mice after sublethal whole-body irradiation

The activities of adenosine deaminase (ADA) and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) were determined between days 1-14 in the spleen, thymus and femoral bone marrow of mice subjected to whole-body gama irradiation with a dose of 5.5 Gy. In control animals, the highest activity of ADA (as related to 10(6) cells) was recorded in the thymus (58.9 pmol.s-1), the lowest one in the femur (34.8 pmol.s-1), the PNP activity was the lowest in the thymus (14.5 pmol.s-1) and the highest in the femur (96.0 pmol.s-1). In the spleen, an elevation of ADA activity (up to 379%) was observed during the first postirradiation days; PNP activity was reduced (to 58%) on postirradiation day 3, followed by the return and even elevation on day 14 (265%). In the thymus, a parallel reduction of the activities of both enzymes appeared during the first postirradiation days, with a subsequent increase during the regeneration phase. In the femoral bone marrow, ADA and PNP activities were increased on postirradiation day 1 (275% and 201%, respectively). Reference is made to the possible relationship between the observed characteristic changes in activities and the degree of damage and/or renewal of cell population in the hemopoietic tissues after irradiation.