COMPARISON OF ACTION SPECTRA FOR ACUTE CUTANEOUS RESPONSES TO ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION: MAN and ALBINO HAIRLESS MOUSE*

The hairless mouse has been used as an experimental model for photocarcinogenesis for about 20 years. Although the carcinogenesis action spectra for mice and man are not known, acute responses to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the biologically active UVB and UVC region (wavelengths below 320 nm) can be compared. Vascular response (predominantly edema) action spectra for monochromatic radiation in the Skh:HR‐l (albino hairless) male mouse were determined. These action spectra were found to be very similar to the human erythema action spectrum that had been developed using the same monochromator. The accuracy of this experimentally derived action spectrum was tested with a series of polychromatic source spectra. The mice were exposed to radiation from a long arc Xe lamp filtered by varying thicknesses of Schott WG320 filters, which yielded a wide range of biologically effective spectra. Spectral irradiance measurements, when weighted with the mouse edema and human erythema action spectra and multiplied by the irradiation time required to elicit a threshold response (edema), yielded a constant weighted dose regardless of irradiation spectral quality. The integrated effective dose was approximately 200 J/m2 of 297 nm equivalent energy, agreeing with requirements for the monochromatic 297 nm dose in the mice as well as for minimal human erythema. These data suggest a commonality in the UVR chromophores of mice and men as they relate to the acute responses described, and a direct additivity of effectiveness from the UVR components in a polychromatic beam, at least over the portion of the UVR spectrum tested (λ > 295 nm).