Regeneration of proximal and distal body part in hydra exposed to ultraviolet light (2535 angstroms).

Pelmatohydra oligactis was amputated in the central part of the gastral region and exposed to radiation of ultraviolet rays (2535 angstroms, 12 erg mm(-2)s(-2) for 7, 15 and 20 minutes. The regeneration of the proximal and distal part of the animal which was fixed 8, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after the cutting and radiation has been studied cito-histologically. The regeneration of the wounds caused by cutting and those caused by radiation have been compared. It has been found out that the wounds caused by radiation heal much harder and that the radiation-destroyed hypostome needs a longer period to regenerate than the cutting-removed hypostome. It is assumed that radiation-destroyed parts have an inhibitory effect upon environment. But, cito-histological changes concord to a great degree in both cases. The foot regeneration in the animals cut and exposed almost entirely concords the regeneration in the control animals which were cut but not exposed. Namely, both of them, as a rule, remain permanently without a foot. In the paper we have tried to explain these results and brought out the conclusion that hydras do not regenerate the foot because in the bud region there are many zimogen and interstitial cells which are not characteristic of a foot and that is why hydra has a directed growth exclusively toward the distal part, never the opposite. The growth is localized to the hypostome and the bud region. Radiation does not inhibit the process of the budding that has already begun. It is assumed that undamaged cell material travels from the gastroderm toward the bud and serves its formation.