EFFECTS OF HIGH-ENERGY SHOCK-WAVES ON RAPIDLY PROLIFERATING CELLS - AFRICAN CLAWED TOAD (XENOPUS-LAEVIS) ZYGOTE MODEL

To date few studies have described the effects of high-energy shock wa ves (HESW) on benign, rapidly proliferating cells. In the African claw ed toad (Xenopus laevis) model, previously described in vitro fertiliz ation methods were used to study the effects of HESW on zygote cleavag e and blastocytosis. Groups of 50 freshly fertilized ova were placed a t the bottom of clear ultracentrifuge tubes filled with 5% DeBoers sol ution, positioned at the f2 focus utilizing the biprismatically split halogen red laser of a Dornier XL-1 experimental lithotripter, and tre ated using an 80-nF capacitor at various kilovoltages and shock wave ( SW) numbers. Controls were treated in an identical fashion but kept ou tside the f2 focus. Cell lysis was the most notable finding at power s ettings in the standard treatment range (12 kV or greater). Increasing kilovoltage at a constant SW number (100) correlated linearly with th e number of zygotes lysed in each group. There was an apparent logarit hmic decrease in progression to cleavage and early development with in creasing kilovoltage. At 10 kV, no effect on development was observed. Increasing SW numbers at a constant 19 kV correlated linearly with an increase in the number of lysed zygotes in each group. Increasing the SW number at constant kilovoltage correlated with an apparent logarit hmic decrease in progression to cleavage and early development. This e ffect was observed with as few as 10 SW. These experiments have demons trated a correlation between viability and lysis of zygotes with incre asing treatment energies. The data suggest a threshold setting that mi nimally affects cellular activity (10 kV). Also, the results support t he hypothesis that rapidly proliferating tissues suffer irreversible c onsequences from the application of HESW.