STUDIES ON X-RAY EFFECTS : IX. THE ACTION OF SERUM FROM X-RAYED ANIMALS ON LYMPHOID CELLS IN VITRO.

Lymphoid cells, prepared from the thymus and lymph glands of rats, when suspended in the serum of x-rayed rats and incubated for 2 hours, increase in number from 15 to 30 per cent, and mitotic figures are found among these cells in fairly large numbers. A like suspension of cells in normal serum undergoes rapid disintegration and in only one instance among a large number of films examined was a mitotic figure found. The stimulative effect of the serum from x-rayed rats endures from 1 to 2 hours after the exposure but is not detectable in the serum taken 17 hours or later after the treatment. Serum x-rayed in vitro is devoid of stimulative action. The lymphoid cells of rabbits and guinea pigs are so fragile as to make impossible the obtaining of counts accurate enough for experimental purposes. The serum of one species caused such rapid disintegration of the cells of another that it was impossible to determine the specificity of the reaction.