Irradiation of the brain of hamsters with large doses of x rays produced a variety of motor and sensory disturbances. The syndrome was not acutely lethal. It showed two well-defined acute components, a general motor unrest, and disturbances in space orientation. Results of anatomical fractionation of the irradiation suggested that the motor unrest was associated with irradiation of a large part of the brain, whereas the inner ear was implicated as the structure most likely responsible for the acute alteration in space orientation. Histological studies corroborated this suggestion. Frequency and severity of the tilt response increase with dose in a sigmoidal curve, 50% incidence occurring at about 6 krad. Once the effect is manifested it is irreversible, but there was a rapid recovery from subthreshold doses. There appears to be a whole class of radiation responses which occur in highly specialized nondividing cells and have properties similar to those described for the inner ear response. (auth)
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Levy et al. (1962) studied this question.