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Six week-old male CBA/J mice fed a commercial powdered laboratory chow or the same chow supplemented with vitamin A palmitate (150,000 U/kg) were inoculated with either the Moloney strain of murine sarcoma virus (M-MuSV) or poxvirus. Central body temperature was measured daily. Both viruses elicited fevers, but the fevers were less pronounced and of shorter duration in the mice ingesting the vitamin A-supplemented diet. Palpable M-MuSV-induced tumors appeared later, were less frequent, grew more slowly, and were resorbed sooner in the mice fed the vitamin A supplement. Similarly, in these mice the appearance of pox lesions was delayed, their numbers reduced, and their disappearance hastened.

Vitamin A palmitate was incorporated into a laboratory chow (150,000 IU/kg diet) and fed ad libitum to C3H/HeJ female mice inoculated with 1 times 10-6 C3HBA tumor cells, beginning the day of inoculation. Control female mice of the same strain similarly inoculated were fed the laboratory chow alone. Vitamin A did not affect rate for the first 19 days, after which growth rates were independent of treatment. Vitamin A-treated mice survived for significantly longer times than did control mice.

Male CBA mice received graded doses (450-750 rad) of total-body gamma-radiation (TBR) from a dual-beam 137Cs irradiator. Commencing directly after TBR, 2 days later, or 6 days later, groups of mice received supplemental vitamin A (Vit A) or beta-carotene (beta-Car), compounds previously found to reduce radiation disease in mice subjected to partial-body X-irradiation. Given directly after TBR, supplemental Vit A decreased mortality, evidenced by increases in the radiation dose required to kill 50% of the mice within 30 days (LD50/30). In one experiment, Vit A increased the LD50/30 from 555 to 620 rad; in another experiment, Vit A increased the dose from 505 to 630 rad. Similarly, in a third experiment, supplemental beta-Car increased the LD50/30 from 510 to 645 rad. Additionally, each compound increased the survival times, even of those mice that died within 30 days. In addition to reduction of mortality and prolongation of survival time, supplemental Vit A moderated weight loss, adrenal gland hyperemia, thymus involution, and lymphopenia--all signs of radiation toxicity. Delaying the supplementation for 2 days after irradiation did not greatly reduce the efficacy of Vit A; however, delaying supplementation for 6 days decreased its effect almost completely.