Response of Swine Skin to Acute Single Exposures of X Rays: Quantification of the Epidermal Cell Changes

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Abstract
Three 10-cm-diameter skin fields on shoulder, chest and ham of 24 swine were irradiated with acute single exposures of 1700, 2300 and 2700 R. The animals were anesthetized, biopsied and sacrificed at intervals from 1-70 days following irradiation. Histologic changes comprised a degenerative and a regenerative phase. The degenerative phase was characterized by progressive cell loss (similar for all fields), an increase in nuclear volume and a decrease in mitotic index. The regenerative phase was characterized by the appearance of discrete islands of normal-appearing cells. The types of islands were designated as small, large, and giant based on chord length. These regenerating islands increased progressively in size until the field was reepithelialized; the mitotic index was as high as 6% with a 3H-thymidine labeling index between 30-70%. The cell cycle time was approximately 15 h. The number of islands at 17-28 days following irradiation was dose-dependent with D0 of 272 R for small islands, 568 R for large, 1620 R for giant islands and 337 R for the combined data. Reepithelialization was due to proliferation of cells in giant islands. Cells from small islands contributed little.

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