ACTION OF X-RAYS ON MAMMALIAN CELLS
Open accessAbstract
The effects of x-irradiation have been quantitatively studied on single cells of a human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) under conditions such that 100 per cent of the unirradiated cells reproduce in isolation to form macroscopic colonies. This technique eliminates complexities due to interactions of members of large cell populations. Survival of single cells (defined as the ability to form a macroscopic colony within 15 days) yields a typical 2 hit curve when plotted against x-ray dose. The initial shoulder extends to about 75 r, after which a linear logarithmic survival rate is obtained, in which the dose needed to reduce survivors to 37 per cent is 96 r. This radiation sensitivity is tens to hundreds of times greater than that of any microorganism for which the equivalent function bas been studied. Evidence, though not proof, is presented that the lethal effect is due to a radiation-induced genetic defect which, however, cannot be a simple single gene inactivation. The locus of the action could be chromosomal. Beginning at doses of 100 r, or possibly earlier, growth-delaying effects of radiation are visible. Cells in which the ability to reproduce has been destroyed by doses below 800 r, can still multiply several times. At higher doses even a single cell division is precluded. A large proportion of the cells killed by radiation at any dose gives rise to one or more giant cells. These metabolize actively, grow to huge proportions but never reproduce under the experimental conditions employed. Methods of preparing large populations of giant cells are described. These giants are particularly susceptible to virus action. Some of the irradiated cells disappear from the plate, presumably by disintegration. This action of radiation is by far the least efficient, since even after 10,000 r, 5 to 10 per cent of the original cell inoculum is recoverable as giants.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
3-7 Gy of X-ray induces severe DNA damage in mammalian cells, leading to loss of proliferative ability.
“In general, 3–7 Gy of X-ray induces severe DNA damage in mammalian cells, leading to loss of proliferative ability36.”
From Extremotolerant tardigrade genome and improved radiotolerance of human cultured cells by tardigrade-unique protein (2016) · cites this paper as [36]
The Results and Discussion (pp. 657–662) report loss of colony-forming ability after X-ray exposure in HeLa cells, including at doses up to 600 r. The paper does not give the claimed 3–7 Gy range or establish severe DNA damage as the cause; its summary presents a radiation-induced genetic defect as evidence, not proof. The finding is also from HeLa cells rather than mammalian cells generally. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Actions of Radiations on Living Cells
Lea, D. E., & Morrison, P. (1955) · Physics Today · doi:10.1063/1.3062070 · Cited by 1,206 · see citing works
CLONAL GROWTH OF MAMMALIAN CELLS IN VITRO
Puck, T. T., Marcus, P. I., & Cieciura, S. J. (1956) · The Journal of Experimental Medicine · doi:10.1084/jem.103.2.273 · Cited by 1,143 · see citing works
Self-citationSTUDIES ON THE PROPAGATION IN VITRO OF POLIOMYELITIS VIRUSES
Scherer, W. F., Syverton, J. T., & Gey, G. O. (1953) · Journal of Experimental Medicine · doi:10.1084/jem.97.5.695 · Cited by 856 · see citing works
Topley and Wilson's Principles of bacteriology and immunity
Topley, W. W. C., Miles, A. A., & Wilson, G. S. (1946) · doi:10.5962/bhl.title.7024 · Cited by 710 · see citing works
Puck, T. T., & Marcus, P. I. (1955) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.41.7.432 · Cited by 643 · see citing works
Self-citationReactivation of Irradiated Bacteriophage by Transfer of Self-Reproducing Units
Luria, S. E. (1947) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.33.9.253 · Cited by 268 · see citing works
On the Interpretation of Multi-Hit Survival Curves
Atwood, K. C., & Norman, A. (1949) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.35.12.696 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
DELAYED PHENOTYPIC EXPRESSION OF SPONTANEOUS MUTATIONS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI
Newcombe, H. B. (1948) · Genetics · doi:10.1093/genetics/33.5.447 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
X-Ray Inactivation of Polyploid Saccharomyces
Lucke, W. H., & Sarachek, A. (1953) · Nature · doi:10.1038/1711014a0 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Radiation effects in tissue culture.
Stroud, A. N., & BRUES, A. M. (1954) · PubMed · Cited by 18 · see citing works
A Quantitative Study of the Effects of X Radiation on Cells in Vitro 2
Reid, T. R., & Gifford, M. P. (1952) · JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute · doi:10.1093/jnci/13.2.431 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The limited in vitro lifetime of human diploid cell strains
Hayflick, L. (1965) · Experimental Cell Research · doi:10.1016/0014-4827(65)90211-9 · Cited by 5,876 · see citing works
Death through a tragedy: mitotic catastrophe
Vakifahmetoglu, H., Olsson, M., & Zhivotovsky, B. (2008) · Cell Death & Differentiation · doi:10.1038/cdd.2008.47 · Cited by 700 · see citing works
Hashimoto, T., Horikawa, D. D., Saito, Y., Kuwahara, H., Kozuka-Hata, H., Shin-I, T., Minakuchi, Y., Ohishi, K., Motoyama, A., Aizu, T., et al. (2016) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms12808 · Cited by 394 · see citing works
Radiation‐induced tissue damage and response
McBride, W. H., & Schaue, D. (2020) · The Journal of Pathology · doi:10.1002/path.5389 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Extreme anti-oxidant protection against ionizing radiation in bdelloid rotifers
Krisko, A., Leroy, M., Radman, M., & Meselson, M. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1119762109 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Repair processes in radiation biology
Elkind, M. M. (1984) · Radiation Research · doi:10.2307/3576409 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Syljuåsen, R. G., Sørensen, C. S., Nylandsted, J., Lukas, C., Lukas, J., & Bartek, J. (2004) · Cancer Research · doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-04-2434 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Di Tommaso, C., Torriglia, A., Furrer, P., Behar-Cohen, F., Gurny, R., & Möller, M. (2011) · International Journal of Pharmaceutics · doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2011.01.004 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Inactivation of individual mammalian cells by single alpha-particles
PUGLIESE, M. D. (1997) · International Journal of Radiation Biology · doi:10.1080/095530097143176 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Maguire, A., Lyng, F. M., & Walsh, J. E. (2010) · Radiation Protection Dosimetry · doi:10.1093/rpd/ncq080 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Puck, T. T., & Marcus, P. I.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Denver (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Experimental Medicine
- Publisher
- Rockefeller University Press
- Published
- 1956-05-01
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 653-666
- ISSN
- 0022-1007 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-9538
- PMC
- PMC2136626
- OpenAlex
- W2109126550
- Cited by
- 1,696
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 38
- FWCI
- 63.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- The Journal of Experimental Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Effects of Radiation Exposure
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › DNA Repair Mechanisms
- Keywords
- X-ray irradiation, HeLa cells, cervical cancer, cell survival curves, two-hit model, chromosomal damage, growth delay, giant cells, viral susceptibility
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cell Division, Cell Survival, Humans, Neoplasms, Radiation Tolerance, X-Rays, Survival Rate, Tissue Culture Techniques
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
