Effects of Hyperthermia on the Mouse Testis and Its Response to X-rays, as Assayed by Weight Loss

Summary

The effects of both hyperthermia alone and X-rays combined with hyperthermia on mouse testis have been investigated. Testis weight was measured 3 weeks after treatment. A linear dependence of testis weight on heating time was observed for temperatures in the range 39·5 to 43·75°C. The relationship between the reaction rate and the reciprocal of absolute temperature indicated that, over the temperature range considered, the activation energy associated with such thermal damage was (646 ± 45) × 10³ J mol⁻¹. No evidence was obtained to indicate a change in slope of the Arrhenius plot over this temperature range. Finally, despite the high sensitivity of the testis to heat and X-rays, no thermal enhancement of the weight loss after irradiation was observed when thermal treatments which, if given alone would produce some observable damage, were administered immediately after irradiation.