THE EFFECTS OF ULTRAVIOLET AND VISIBLE RADIATION ON MOUSE ASCITES TUMOUR CELLS

Abstract— Effects of ultraviolet and visible radiation on the viability of Landschutz ascites tumour cells have been tested by growing control and treated tumour samples in adult mice. The tumour cells were irradiated as a dilute suspension in isotonic buffered salt solution, and were equilibrated at 0°C with oxygen or with nitrogen before irradiation.
Tumour cell proliferation was measured by a variety of techniques. The preferred assay-method was the growth of solid tumours in the axillae and groins of mice after sub-cutaneous inoculation of varying dilutions of treated or control ascites tumour cells. The immune response of the mice to the injected cells was reduced by whole body irradiation with a 300r dose of x-rays two days before inoculation. Results were calculated from parallel line assays using the reciprocal of the delay in appearance of the solid tumours up to 30 days post-innoculation. This reciprocal (1/T) was linearly related to the logarithm of the number of cells inoculated.
Photoreactivation has been demonstrated for this system, in which both U.V. and visible radiations were absorbed by the same cells. Light delivered alone in oxygen or in nitrogen was without effect on cell-viability, but it increased cell-survival after u.v.-irradiation in nitrogen and decreased survival after u.v.-irradiation in oxygen. Ultraviolet radiation alone was not significantly more lethal in oxygen than in nitrogen. A further observation in this work was an interaction between irradiated and control tumour cells injected into the same animal.
It is suggested that the radiation used may affect the antigenic character of the tumour cells as well as their reproductive capadity.