From certain well-established phenomena occurring in radiation biology, it appears probable that free radicals play a considerable part in the changes induced by ionizing radiation. Considering radiation damage to the living cell, Gray (1) showed how inferences favoring this hypothesis might be drawn from such phenomena as chemical protection, and the dependence of radiation effects on oxygen tension. With a much less complicated biological test system, free bacteriophage, it is possible to obtain data on radical action which can be compared more directly with model radiation chemical systems. There can be no doubt that, at this level of biological organization, living material is affected by radical reactions, and the use of bacteriophage is a means of adding to available data on these reactions. Bacteriophage, regarded solely as a radiation chemical indicator, has the following advantages:
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Tikvah Alper (1955) studied this question.
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