Abstract
The binding energy of the alpha particles has been calculated using a local density approximation with harmonic-oscillator wavefunctions. The effective two-body interaction has been taken from the lowest-order constrained variational (LOCV) calculation for nuclear matter. It is observed that by including the effect of isobar degrees of freedom the author obtains a saturation point of the alpha particle at 28.7 MeV with h(cross) omega =23 MeV.