Evening star., 1949-01-24
Stors, Men and Atoms
Radioactive Isotopes Help
In Treatment of Dropsy
Progress Reported in Curing Ailment
Associated With Heart Disease
By Thomas r. Henry

~ Thomas X. Henry
successful treatment for the dropsy which
often accompanies congestive heart disease has
been achieved by use Of radioactive isotopes
This condition hitherto has baffled medicine.
The lungs become water-logged. The liver
swells alarmingly. There Is general dropsical
condition Of the whole body.
The cause Of this has been determined, &C.
cording to an Atomic Energy Commission an.
nouncement, by scientists working under q com.
mission contract at Tulane University They
gave patients minute doses OF radioactive 50.
dunn which combined with the salt content of
the blood. This revealed that the trouble was
due to the salt solution of the blood backing up
in various parts Of the body because Of the
deficient pumping action OF the heart. The
result Is that water, attracted by SALT accumu-
lates in the tissues.
With the cause known, it was relatively sim.
pie to devise drug which increases greatly
the bodys salt excretion. This it was found.
generally relieves the dropsical condition.
Use Of Radioactive Iodine.
Meantime, according to . commission an
nouncement considerable progress is being
made with the techniques Of using radioactive
iodine in the diagnosis Of diseases Of the thy.
roid. Earlier hopes that it would prove an
faded, but methods have been worked out for
early detection of this malignant growth.
These depend on the so-called radio auto
graph" the record of an exploding element
on q Photographic plate. With the progress
Of the cancer known, chances will be much
better for developing methods Of treatment.
Some of the major contracts of the COM
mission, it is announced, now are concerned
with the use of radioactive tracers to determine
the obscure, hidden mechanism Of photosyn-
thesis, the key bio-chemical process of all life
on earth whereby sugars and starches are pro-
duced by the action of sunlight on green
leaves. Other studies deal with the possible
use of radioactive isotopes as fertilizers.
Production Of the first radioactive nicotine
and digitalis, both drugs of major Importance,
has been announced.
The only source Of these substances is in
plants-dig:talis and tobacco They are far
too complex to be synthesized in the laboratory.
Very small amounts are produced by the plants
and doses in medicine are extremely minute.
Consequently, it has been impossible to deter
mine what happens to them in the body.
In the work reported to the American AS
ISOLATION for the Advancement OF Science by
DR.. E. M. K. Ceiling and his associates Of
the University of Chicago, digitalis and
tobacco were grown in closed jars into which
was admitted carbon dioxide containing
minute amounts of carbon H. the most COM
mon exploding" form of this element which
is the basis of all life on earth.
Carbon Extracted.
The growing plants extracted the carbon
from the gas through the process OF photo.
synthesis the mechanism by which sugars and
starches are built up by green plant lie
with the energy of sunshine. When the digl-
tails and tobacco were harvested it was found
that a small amount of the radioactive atoms
had been incorporated into the two substances
which are used as drugs.
These will be used in studies of effects on
animals. However minute the drug dose, It
will be possible to follow its complete progress
through the body. In spite OF the smau
dosages, exploding digitalis and nicotine can
be used only very cautiously in human experi-
ments because carbon IA, with its very long
lifetime of radioactivity, is considered quite
dangerous.
The work was carried out DR.. Ceiling re-
ports, with grants from the United States
Public Health Service and several other
organizations. Experiments now are in prog
ress in the production of several other radio"
active drugs obtained from plants. The dlgi.
tails and nicotine experiments have shown
that there is absolutely no chemical diner.
ence between the radioactive and normal
forms and that both are handled in precisely
the same way by the animal body.