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c-Mitotic Action of some Simple Gases

Nature volume 165, pages 1021–1022 (1950)Cite this article

Abstract

Levan and Östergren1, and Gavaudan2 have stressed the fact that the phenomena of mito-inhibition and of c-mitosis can be induced by, inter alia, a range of substances of diverse chemical constitution, alike only in this, that they belong to the class of inert narcotics. The first-named investigators observed a correlation between the threshold molar concentrations of such ‘c-mitotic’ substances and their water solubility, the substances effective at the lowest concentrations being the least water-soluble. The existence of such a correlation is immediately understandable if it is postulated that many ‘c-mitotic’ substances act at thermodynamic concentrations or ‘activities’ of about the same order of magnitude, and when it is recalled that the thermodynamic activity at a particular concentration in solution of a sparingly soluble substance is given, very roughly, by the ratio of this concentration to the saturated concentration3.

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References

  1. Levan, A., and Östergren, G., Hereditas, 29, 381, 496 (1943).

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  2. Gavaudan, P., Gavaudan, N., and Poussel, H., C.R. Soc. Biol., 137, 570 (1943).

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  3. Ferguson, J., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 127, 387 (1939).

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  4. Ferguson, J., and Hawkins, S. W., Nature, 164, 963 (1949).

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  5. Östergren, G., Hereditas, 30, 429 (1944).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., Alkali Division, Research Department, Northwich

    J. FERGUSON, S. W. HAWKINS & D. DOXEY

  2. Jealott's Hill Research Station, Bracknell, Berks

    J. FERGUSON, S. W. HAWKINS & D. DOXEY

Authors
  1. J. FERGUSON
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  2. S. W. HAWKINS
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  3. D. DOXEY
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FERGUSON, J., HAWKINS, S. & DOXEY, D. c-Mitotic Action of some Simple Gases. Nature 165, 1021–1022 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/1651021b0

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