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The effect of roentgen rays on protoplasmic viscosity changes during mitosis

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Roentgen radiation does not produce a change in the protoplasmic viscosity in the unfertilized eggs ofArbacia punctulata nor in the unfertilized eggs ofChaetopterus pergamentaceus.

  2. 2.

    InArbacia, (1) irradiated eggs fertilized with normal sperm, (2) normal eggs fertilized with irradiated sperm, (3) irradiated eggs fertilized with irradiated sperm undergo very similar viscosity changes between fertilization and first cleavage. For a short time after fertilization the viscosity of the control and experimental eggs remains about the same as that of the unfertilized eggs. Then there is a sharp increase in viscosity in both the control and experimental eggs. This reaches a value of about 3 or 4 times that of the unfertilized eggs at approximately 15 minutes after fertilization. In the control the viscosity remains high for a short period and then decreases returning almost to its original low level shortly before cleavage. The viscosity of the treated eggs remains high for a period about two or three times that of the control and then progressively decreases, reaching almost its original low level shortly before cleavage.

  3. 3.

    It is believed that in irradiated eggs, heparin or a heparin-like substance is destroyed by the radiation thereby causing the prolonged mitotic gelation.

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Author notes

  1. Walter L. Wilson

    Present address: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.

    Walter L. Wilson

  2. Zoological Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

    Walter L. Wilson

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  1. Walter L. Wilson
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Additional information

A dissertation in Zoology presented to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The research was supported in part by a grant from the United States Public Health Service administered by Dr. L. V. Heilbrunn.

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Wilson, W.L. The effect of roentgen rays on protoplasmic viscosity changes during mitosis. Protoplasma 39, 305–317 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01249157

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01249157

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