Abstract
Nearly one hundred amphibian tadpoles were made anemic by phenylhydrazine injection. During the recovery period radioactive thymidine was incorporated into the DNA of the nucleated amphibian red blood cells. Over the next 135 days blood was drawn and smears of circulating red blood cells were prepared. The blood smears from each tadpole were autoradiographed and percentage of labeled nuclei (PLN) determined. The average life span of tadpole red blood cells was calculated from the change in PLN, and is about 100 days. It is concluded that during the transition from tadpole to frog, the tadpole red blood cell life span must be drastically shortened to account for the hemoglobin transition observed during amphibian metamorphosis.
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