346 



GENERAL, DISCUSSION 



n.hv- 



ROOH 



Rupture of polymolecular 

 structures 



DRP, RNP, LP 

 decomposition 



^ Lysis of 

 Vstructures 



Change in sorptivity and 



permeability of membrane 



surfaces of separation 



Change of the activity 



and of enzyme effect 



coordination 



Redistribution of ions 

 in structures 



Fig. 2. — Scheme of initial processes in the irradiated celL 



I would like to emphasize a few isolated points only. 



In the first place, of substantial significance for the fate of the cell 

 is the radiation action not on the individual molecules of the substance, 

 but on those complex, ordei'ed, macromolecular structures which 

 constitute the basis of the sub-cellular organelles of the cell. The 

 migration of the absorbed energy through these structures, the occur- 

 ence of excited states of long duration (Powers, Eidus), the possibility 

 of the occurrence in them of rapidly flowing short-term chain reactions 

 (Tarusov), the deformation of considerable volumes of these structures, 

 even as a result of the occurrence of single errors between the poly- 

 mers which form them (Passynsky), all this forms the basis for an initial 

 physico-chemical amjilification of the radiation effect. 



As a result of these initial processes, many physico-chemical properties 

 of the elementary structures are altered in the first j)lace, e.g. the 

 permeability and the sorbability of the membranes. The importance of 

 these changes was stressed in the papers read by Alexander and Bacq, 

 by Passynsky and in our publications in the years 1957-1958. A i^e- 

 distribution of ions (potassium, sodium, etc.) occurs. Many enzymes are 

 activated. Even the slight activation of such enzymes as DNase, 

 IvNase and lipoproteinase results in more marked changes in the high 

 molecular weight polymers of nucleoproteins and ]ipo])roteins, which 

 comjH'ise the elementary structures of the cell and lead already to a 



