The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 101, 451-459,
Copyright, 1955, by The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research New York
ERYTHROCYTE LIFE SPAN IN GROWING SWINE AS DETERMINED BY GLYCINE-2-C14
J. A. Bush M.D.1,
N. I. Berlin M.D.1,
W. N. Jensen M.D1,
A. B. Brill 1,
G. E. Cartwright M.D.1, and
M. M. Wintrobe M.D.1
1 From the Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and the Section on Research Medicine, Donner Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
Red blood cell survival studies were performed on five normal growing swine by following the C14-specific activity of hemoglobin and heme after the administration of glycine-2-C14. The erythrocytes of normal growing swine appear to be destroyed both by a random and an age-dependent process. Random destruction accounts for the larger portion of the cells which are destroyed.
The "mean" red cell survival time was 62 days. This represents the interval from the time of incorporation of 50 per cent of the maximal amount of labelling achieved to the time when the level had decreased once more to the 50 per cent amount. The " corrected average potential life span" of the red cells was 86 ± 11.5 days. This figure was obtained by subtracting the number of days required to attain 80 per cent of the maximal labelling from the average survival time of red cells destroyed by an age-dependent process as distinguished from random destruction.
Submitted on December 30, 1954