COMPARISON OF X-RAYS AND SKIN CARCINOGENS 



137 



Without bringing out any similarity which is immediately striking, the 

 experiments do indicate that a functional disturbance of mitochondria 

 may be common to chemical carcinogens and to X-irradiation. Whether the 

 disturbance is closely related to the mechanism of carcinogenesis remains to 

 be determined. 



E 

 O 





1 2 3 4 S 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 IS 



Time (days) 



21 



28 



Fig. 2. Relative amounts of formazan deposited in epidermis after irradiation. (Reproduced 

 by kind permission of the Editor of International Journal of Radiation Biology.) 



REFERENCES 



IvERSEN, 0. H. (1959). Acta path, microbiol. scand. 47, 216. 



IvERSEN, 0. H. (1961). Nature, Lond. 192, 273. 



IvERSEN, O. H., and Devik, F. (1962). In press, submitted to Int. J. Bad. Biol. 



IvERSEN, O. H., and Evensen, A. (1962). Acta path, microbiol. scand. Suppl. 156. 



DISCUSSION 



GLifcKSMANN: May I ask one question? In both cases you would get hyperkeratosis in 

 the skin, from the carcinogens as well as from the radiation injury. Does your reaction 

 simply mean that you have different types of cells present in the skin? 

 devik: This I do not know, but this reaction is recorded very early, weU before you 

 get any keratosis. We can hardly differentiate liistologically in our experiments between 

 irradiated and non-irradiated skin at an early age. 



5* 



