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Free Radical Reactions modify Cellular Damage

Abstract

COMBINED physical and biological techniques reveal some properties of molecular species which are responsible for cell death after irradiation. Changes in ESR spectra of irradiated cell contents and in the survival of irradiated fern spores, produced by different gases at different times, show an important correlation. The primary radiation-produced radical population has been shown to include precursors of ultimate biological damage, which are still capable of post-irradiation modification. Radical groups are recognized by their response to NO and O2 and titrated with these gases, using both physical and biological end points.

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DODD, N., EBERT, M. Free Radical Reactions modify Cellular Damage. Nature 221, 1245–1246 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/2211245b0

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