The Effect of X-Rays on the Vitamin Needs of the Organism and Cancer

Abstract

IN a previous paper (1) before the International Congress of Radiology we have given evidence to show that one of the immediate effects of X-rays on the organism is to protect the animal against a Vitamin B deficiency. We have further shown that it is this same effect which is probably important in inducing as well as destroying the cancerous tissue. We did not find these facts through an accidental study of the effect of X-rays on animals fed on a ration deficient in Vitamin B, but through an earlier analysis of the growth reaction of cells. In these earlier studies (2) (3) (4), carried on by one of us (Burrows), it was found that body cells cannot grow in a tissue culture where simple synthetic media or blood plasma is used, except when they are crowded into a small stagnant mass which is well supplied with oxygen. This growth can be stopped by separating the cells, by increasing the amount of medium relatively about each cell, or by washing the cells with a stream of serum. It was further shown that wh...