ROENTGEN RAY INTOXICATION : I. BACTERIAL INVASION OF THE BLOOD STREAM AS INFLUENCED BY X-RAY DESTRUCTION OF THE MUCOSAL EPITHELIUM OF THE SMALL INTESTINE.

The x-ray has a specific effect upon the epithelium lining the crypts and covering the villi of the small intestine. A suitable dose of x-ray will destroy this epithelium in large measure, leaving empty crypts and naked villi exposed to swarms of bacteria in the intestine. Subsequently one does not observe an overwhelming invasion of the tissues, lymph, and blood by intestinal bacteria. It seems obvious therefore that the intestinal epithelium is not the all important barrier which protects the tissues from invasion by intestinal bacteria.