The object of this investigation was to test out the sensitizing effect of various vital stains upon rat tissues in the presence of x-ray energy. For the purposes of the experiment, it had been found that a dosage of
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at 50 kilovolts induced death in white rats within 110 to 120 hours. This amount of energy was selected as a tentative standard for the experiments. The preliminary injection of small amounts of such stains as trypan blue in 0.5 per cent aqueous solution sensitized the rat tissues to such an extent that the period of viability of these rats after administration of the standard dosage of x-ray energy, was shortened to from 60 to 70 hours. The cause of death in the stained rats has not been ascertained despite careful histologic study. Considerable variation in the susceptibility of rats to the combined procedure was noted.
