THE EFFECT OF IRRADIATION ON THE REPLICATION OF DESOXY-RIBONUCLEIC ACID IN HEPATOCYTES

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Abstract
Autoradiographic studies with tritiated thymidine show no significant difference exists between the number of labeled hepatocytes in paired controls and irradiated rats after partial hepatectomy and immediately following 3000 r of X-irradiation. Quantitative studies suggest that reduction in DNA synthesis immediately after irradiation is directly proportional to the rate of synthesis at the time of irradiation. The mean time for replication of the DNA content of an hepatocyte of 8 hours in the paired controls was increased to 13 hours in the irradiated animals. The shape of the exponential curve for the changing DNA content during the period of replication following irradiation was similar to the shape of the curve in controls. The results of this investigation are, therefore, consistent with the assumption that irradiation directly affects the biosynthetic'' process of DNA replication.