EFFECTS ON BIOELECTRIC ACTIVITY OF NERVES 



581 



60 



120 



180 



240 



300 



MINUTES 



Fig. 5. Typical response of a rat caudal nerve trunk exposed for a limited period 

 to x-irradiation. X-ray beam was turned off at a time when spike amplitude was in- 

 creasing and sensitivity and conduction velocity were decreasing. The response was 

 followed for 5 hours. 



was placed, involving as it did a synthetic medium, the ionic relationships 

 of which could never reproduce exactly the complex ionic environment of 

 the nerve in the living animal. The question posed was whether these effects 

 might be expected in the living animal. To answer this question, experiments 

 involving x-irradiation of the caudal nerve were carried out, not merely 

 in vivo, but also in situ. 



From the results of 28 experiments, mean values were calculated for 

 amplitude of the spike potential and for conduction velocity of the impulse 



