EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON EARLY LENS CHANGES AFTER ROENTGEN IRRADIATION

Abstract

IN RECENT investigations, Buschke, Friedenwald, and associates,¹ and Smelser and Pfeiffer² studied cell division and the influence of ionizing radiations on this function in the corneal epithelium of rats. Mitosis in the lens epithelium has not previously been subjected to comparable investigation, and a few reported figures have given the impression of an extremely low rate of division in this cell layer as a whole.³ The improved technique for preparing total flat mounts of the lens epithelium attached to the anterior portion of the lens capsule, which was worked out recently by Dr. Alma Howard,⁴ provides a means of obtaining reliable estimations of the mitotic index and suggests the possibility of approaching in this way the problem of the effect of radiation on cell division and of testing partial chemical protection against x-ray damage of the mammalian lens. To these ends the present tripartite study was