8 4 



Scientific Proceedings (97). 



Uranium Nitrate Intoxications 

 The earliest evidence of liver injury in uranium intoxications 

 has consisted in the appearance in the liver cells of fat in the form 

 of dust-like particles. This deposition is more marked in the cells 

 immediately around the central vein than it is at the periphery 

 of the lobule. Following this change, the cells show granular 

 degeneration, an increase in size, and the deposition of fat in 

 larger masses. The later changes have consisted in marked 

 cloudy swelling, followed by edema and necrosis. Such a ter- 

 mination is more marked near the center of the lobule than at 

 the periphery. As the cytoplasmic degeneration progresses, fat 

 appears in the cells in large droplets, and extends to the periphery 

 of the lobule. 



The rapidity of the development, and the severity of these 

 changes have shown no definite dependence upon the size of the 

 dose of uranium employed in the intoxication. 



The severity of the degenerative changes in the liver and the 

 amount of stainable fat present in the liver cells have shown a 

 relationship with the age of the animal in which the intoxication 

 is produced. The older animals have shown a susceptibility to 

 uranium intoxication which has been expressed by the more 

 rapid development of a liver degeneration and by these changes 

 being more extensive than has been the case with the younger 

 animals. 



Associated with the occurrence of the degenerative changes 

 in the liver, the animals develop an acid intoxication. Such an 

 intoxication is of a severer type in old animals than in young 

 animals. 



At present an investigation is in progress which is concerned 

 with the relationship of the liver injury induced by both mercuric 

 chloride and uranium nitrate with the development of an acid 

 intoxication. 



