Independence of the radiobiological oxygen constant, K, and the respiration rate of mammalian cells.

The radiosensitivity, and the radiobiological oxygen-constant K for mouse Ehrlich ascites cells depend on the pre-irradiation growth conditions. Measurements of the oxygen-consumption rate of cells grown by different methods have been made to ascertain whether the differences in radiobiological properties could be associated with different rates of respiration. Inhibition of respiration by sodium amytal had no significant effect on either the radiosensitivity or the estimate of K.