Abstract
Mice irradiated with a dose of 4.78 Gy X-radiation were treated 3 or 5 days with a thrice-daily dose of chloramphenicol of 160 or 320 mg/kg. Observation of the incorporation of 59Fe into the heme fraction suggested that chloramphenicol has a depressive effect on erythropoiesis in the spleen of nonirradiated animals, and clearly proved this in irradiated ones. Depression in the bone marrow of nonirradiated animals was not observed, in irradiated animals a depressive effect was shown, though less strong than in the spleen. As befits these findings there is an accentuation of postirradiational anemia after chloramphenicol treatment of irradiated animals, and signs of incipient anemia in nonirradiated animals. All the effects mentioned were repaired within 14 days of the end of chloramphenicol treatment.