Abstract
A comparison was made between the 24-hr effects of fully thermalized and partially thermalized atomic pile radiation on four metabolic indicators in rabbit retina. The purpose was to estimate the retinal toxic effect of each quality of radiation relative to the thermal neutron fluence available in the posterior ocular segment for neutron- 10boron heavy particle radiation [ 10B( n, α) 7Li]. Cadmium filtration was omitted. The indicators were rates of oxygen consumption, anaerobic glycolysis, and activities of cytochrome oxidase and succinic dehydrogenase. In all determinations, “epithermal” pile radiation was significantly more toxic than fully thermalized radiation relative to thermal neutron fluence in the target area. Toxicity varied directly with dose in both cases. Up to a dose of 5 × 10 12 neutrons cm −2 sec −1, little acute retinal metabolic damage occurs with fully thermalized pile radiation, which remains the choice in investigation of neutron-boron therapy in the posterior ocular segment.
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