Interaction between electron-affinic sensitizers.

Measurements of effect of pairs of the sensitizers PNAP, misonidazole and oxygen have shown that if one sensitizer is giving an enhancement ratio (ER) of about 1.6 or less and the other is giving a larger ER, the combination behaves as if only the latter is present. There is only an additive effect of the two if they both give ERs less than 1.6 or greater than 1.6. These results show that at low concentrations sensitizers only act on damage associated with the "fast component" of the oxygen effect. This could result from interaction with two distinct species, or there could be only one critical species formed initially but more than one step by which it could be converted to a lethal form.