Abstract
THE y-isomer of hexachlorocyclohexane ('Gammexane') is toxic to Paramecium caudatum when introduced into the cultures at a rate of 10 parts per million down to 1 per million. The action of the poison is slow and cumulative, the organisms continuing to feed until near death. Nuclear division is inhibited, and so they become hypertrophied, increasing in length and breadth up to 50 percent beyond normal. There is a threshold concentration of the drug somewhere between 1 and 0.5 parts per million where some normal division occurs, but a proportion of the hypertrophied cells divide as to the nuclei but not as to the body of the cell itself. Consequently, Siamese-twin forms are produced which feed and live a long time without making further progress, except that a small lateral outgrowth sometimes suggests that they might produce buds. Complete budding has not been observed in the Gammexane-treated medium.
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Mottram, J. C., "The Problem of Tumours" (London, 1942).
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LLOYD, L. Unco-ordinated Growth in Paramecium Induced by 'Gammexane'. Nature 159, 135 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159135a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159135a0
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