Some considerations relative to the action of X-rays on tissue cells

Abstract

The following considerations were suggested to me by the results recorded in a paper “The Immediate Changes Observed in Tissue Cells after Exposure to Soft X-rays,” by Strangeways and Oakley. The authors find that after an exposure to the rays of 5 minutes the number of cells in mitosis was appreciably diminished, after an exposure of 10 minutes the number was still smaller, after 15 minutes only a few cells in mitosis were visible, and for still more prolonged exposures cells in mitosis were only seen occasionally in some of the cultures. Cultures exposed for 120 minutes showed practically no cells in any stage of mitosis. Although no numerical data are given these statements suggest very strongly that the number of cells capable of passing into mitosis is decreasing exponentially with the time of exposure; in other words that the action of the X-rays on the cells which produces the incapacity for entering into mitosis follows a probability law.