270 G. M. FRANK AND A. D. SNEZHKO 



with the introduction of electron microscopy, with the development of 

 new, diverse, chemical and optical variants of histochemistry, has 

 endowed morphology with a new meaning. Thus the science of the 

 structure became confluent with that of the chemistry of living sub- 

 strate. 



This is the fundamental feature of the contemporary scene in the 

 solution of biological problems. 



Molecular, supermolecular and cellular organization are related to 

 and, moreover, make possible the realization of metabolic processes 

 which provide not only the self-maintenance of the cell but the pro- 

 cesses of its development and self-reproduction as well. 



The problem of the correlation l^etween form and structure, posed by 

 biologists as the central link of theoretical approaches to life phenomena, 

 becomes nowadays, in accordance with all that has just been said more 

 concrete from the physico-chemical and chemical aspects and can be 

 re-analysed at a new level. 



Thus, it seems that the central problem is that of the ability of 

 cellular processes to stable self -regulation and, by analogy with modern 

 technical terminology, to self-adjustment of this self -regulation to the 

 most advantageous regime of work. Here not only the provision of 

 metabolic processes in the spatial organization of cell structures but 

 also the role and participation of these structures in the processes of 

 self-regulation seem to be of fundamental significance. This sphere, 

 which concerns the level of the very cell processes may be provisionally 

 designated "microcybernetics." 



From this viewpoint the problem of the physico-chemical bases of a 

 destruction of the processes of cell regulation is a very important one 

 when one considers the action of radiation on cells. 



In principle this way of formulating the problem goes without saying 

 and hardly deserves general and purely abstract discussion. We should 

 like, however, if not to argue this viewpoint, to illustrate it at least, 

 with some new facts, which can become the point of a fruitful dis- 

 cussion. 



This way of setting out the problem arose for the first time in our 

 laboratory some years ago when unexpected results were obtained on 

 solving quite other jDroblems. We were concerned with disturbances of 

 haemodynamics after an acute action of radiation, especially clearly 

 revealed on such experimental animals as rabbits. 



In order to determine how these disturbances affect the oxygen 

 balance of the tissues. Dr. Snezhko, in our laboratory, succeeded in 

 applying a modification of a polarographic method to the continuous 

 recording of the oxygen level in tissues of the irradiated animal. 



