Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:19:23.362Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The bactericidal action of X-rays, neutrons and radioactive radiations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

D. E. Lea ,
R. B. Haines  and
E. Bretscher
D. E. Lea
Affiliation:
From the Strangeways Laboratory, the Low Temperature Research Station, and the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
R. B. Haines
Affiliation:
From the Strangeways Laboratory, the Low Temperature Research Station, and the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
E. Bretscher
Affiliation:
From the Strangeways Laboratory, the Low Temperature Research Station, and the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Experiments are reported in which the bactericidal effect of α-, β- and γ-rays of radium, X-rays of various wave-lengths, and neutrons, has been observed, particularly on Bact. coli and spores of B. mesentericus. It is shown that the survival curves are exponential and that the lethal dose is independent of the intensity of the radiation and of the temperature during the irradiation. The lethal dose varies for different radiations, being, in the case of vegetative bacteria, greatest for those radiations, particularly α-rays, which produce their ionizations close together.

These experimental facts can all be explained on the view that the “lethal” action of radiation is really the production of lethal mutations. It is deduced that the number of “genes” in Bact. coli is of the order of 1000.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 1941 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1941

References

REFERENCES

Badian, J. (1933). Eine cytologische Untersuchung über das Chromatin und den Entwicklungszyklus der Bakterien. Arch. Mikrobiol. 4, 409–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, L. H. (1939). Measurement of neutron dose in biological experiments. Nature, Lond., 144, 439–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heřcik, F. (1933). Polonium und die Trefiertheorie bei Bakterien. Strahlentherapie, 47, 374–9.Google Scholar
Lacassagne, M. A. (1929). Action des rayons X de grande, longueur d'onde sur lea microbes. C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris, 188, 200–2.Google Scholar
Lacassagne, M. A. & Holweck, F. (1934). Le problème des quanta en radiobiologie. Radiophysiol. et Radiothér. 3, 215–54.Google Scholar
Lea, D. E. (1940a). Amer. J. Roentg. (in the Press).Google Scholar
Lea, D. E. (1940b). A radiation method for determining the number of genes in the X-chromosome of Drosophila. J. Genet. 39, 181–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lea, D. E. (1940c). Determination of the sizes of viruses and genes by radiation methods. Nature, Lond., 146, 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lea, D. E., Haines, R. B. & Coulson, C. A. (1936). The mechanism of the bactericidal action of radioactive radiations. Proc. Roy. Soc. B, 120, 47–76.Google Scholar
Lea, D. E., Haines, R. B. & Coulson, C. A. (1937). The action of radiations on bacteria. Proc. Ray. Soc. B, 123, 1–21.Google Scholar
Pugsley, A. T., Oddie, T. H. & Eddy, C. E. (1935). The action of X-rays on certain bacteria. Proc. Roy. Soc. B, 118, 276–98.Google Scholar
Scott, C. M. (1937). Some quantitative aspects of the biological action of X- and γ-rays. Spec. Rep. Ser. tried. Res. Court., Lond., no. 223.Google Scholar
Stille, B. (1937). Zytologische Untersuchungen an Bakterien mit Hilfe der Feulgenschen Nuclealreaktion. Arch. Mikrobiol. 8, 125–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tansley, K., Spear, F. G. & Glucksman, A. (1937). The effect of γ-rays on cell division in the developing rat retina. Brit. J. Ophthal. 21, 273–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wyckoff, R. G. (1930). The killing of colon bacilli by X-rays of different wave-lengths. J. exp. Med. 52, 769–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zimmer, K. G. (1936). Radiumdosimetrie. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Zimmer, K. G. (1938). Dosimetrische und strahlenbiologische Versuche mit schnellen Neutronen. Strahlentherapie, 63, 517–27.Google Scholar