Acute Intestinal Radiation Death

Abstract

Death after irradiation was studied in inbred mice (mostly C57-Black). Life expectancy after irradiation decreases with increasing dose, but there are certain values of survival time which are stable over considerable dosage ranges. Stable values are thought to express intrinsic properties of the irradiated objects, and are called characteristic values of the response spectrum. One such value is a survival time of 3.5 days, which is stable over a wide range of doses, occurs with radiations of different qualities, in mice of various strains and different weights. Split-dose expts. showed that the characteristic survival time of 3.5 days can be fully determined at the time of irradiation. Expts. with partial irradiation showed that, to elicit radiation death in 3.5 days, it is necessary and sufficient to irradiate any large portion of the intestine. Hence, the reaction is called acute intestinal radiation death. This process is superseded, in the very high dosage range, by the hyperacute reaction which can cause death in less than 3.5 days. To produce the hyperacute reaction, it is necessary and sufficient to irradiate the head.