Preliminary Data on the Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) of the 100 MeV Gamma-radiation Delivered by the Frascati Electron-synchrotron

Summary

The authors submitted adult male mice to the gamma-beam of the Frascati electron-synchrotron and studied survival up to 30 days. For comparison, other mice of the same strains were irradiated with x-rays. Preliminary data on the LD₅₀ were obtained and appeared to be around 730 rads for x-rays and around 840 for the synchrotron beam: the relative biological effectiveness of the latter as against x-rays would therefore be of the order of 0·87. This value does not significantly differ from that obtained for high-energy beams of 2–3 mev.