Latent Radiation Damage and Synchronous Cell Division in the Epidermis of an Insect: I. Nonreversible Effects Leading to Local Radiation Burns

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Abstract
Cell division preparatory to molting occurs in the epidermis of Rhodnius prolixus at a fixed time after a blood meal, making it possible to irradiate the cells during a resting stage before the initiation of mitosis. In insects irradiated with a small beam from a 2 Mev X-ray machine, development of the epidermal cells is quite normal for the first 5 days after feeding; a developmental block during prophase and metaphase precedes the degradation of irradiated areas during the ninth and tenth days. Migratory epidermal cells from the periphery of the burn eventually cover the wound with an undifferentiated chitin-protein layer. This latent radiation damage is permanent. The burns always appear, even when feeding is delayed for periods of months, and also when the insects are induced to molt a second time.

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