Whole Body X-irradiation of Experimental Animals A short summary of the methods used at the M.R.C. Radiobiological Research Unit, A.E.R.E., Harwell, between 1949-1956

The use of conventional X-ray therapy machines for whole body irradiation of experimental animals is described. It is shown that irradiation from one side only gives what is probably a sufficiently uniform dose distribution in mice. In the case of rats and larger animals non-uniformity of dose distribution due to absorption is considerable although the average dose is seen to be very close to the dose measured in the absence of the animal but at the position its centre would occupy. Bilateral techniques are therefore recommended if dose distributions uniform to 5% are desired. There is some evidence that dose distributions may be estimated fairly closely from standard depth dose tables for semi-infinite phantoms.