Abstract
IN a study of respiratory changes prior to tumour formation after irradiation with X-rays, two disturbances in the oxidation processes of the affected tissues were observed. A group of sixteen mice were given local treatment of X-rays sufficient to produce a burn. At various intervals after irradiation (3 hours–50 days), mice were successively sacrificed and the respiration of the irradiated area compared to the respiration of an equal control area on the same mouse. It was observed that, after the first day of irradiation, the respiration began to decrease, reaching a maximum depression, after about two weeks, of 60 per cent below the respiration of the control skin. Directly following this period of inhibition was a period of stimulation which brought the oxygen consumption of the irradiated area of skin about 35 per cent above that of the control. This stimulation continued over a period of about five weeks.
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FARDON, J., SULLIVAN, W. Respiration Changes Following Irradiation with X-Rays. Nature 143, 287 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143287a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143287a0
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