EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON EARLY LENS CHANGES AFTER ROENTGEN IRRADIATION

Abstract

RADIOACTIVE tracers were employed in this part of the study to investigate the effect of roentgen irradiation on the permeability of the lens and of the blood-aqueous barrier as far as it could be deduced from this order of experiment. According to many workers, changes in the permeability of phase boundaries may play an important part in the pathogenesis of roentgen ray cataract. It is widely held, moreover, that the biologic actions of ionizing radiations are based partly or entirely on alterations in the selective permeability of the cell membrane. These changes can influence the rate of entrance of substances into the cells, and of their elimination, and thus may modify metabolic and synthetic processes. To the best of our knowledge, no extensive investigations on the eye which could lend support to this theory or disprove it had been carried out at the time the present study was undertaken. Two experimental technics, each in part supplementary to the