Radiation research done by Dr. Samuel P. Hicks of the Medical School may lead to a cure for cerebral palsy and its related conditions, officers of the United Cerebral Palsy Association announced yesterday.
The Palsy Association presented Hicks with the first Winston Award of $1.000 for his work with the disease, which afflicts half a million children in the United States.
Hicks bombarded laboratory rats in the second and third stages of pregnancy with X-rays up to 300 roentgens. The radiation effects caused the rodents' off-spring to be born with defective brains and spinal cords.
Radiation Injures Embryo
Hicks found that such radiation injures the deep part of the brain, which is growing in the last third of pregnancy, and affects the motor functions of the body Radiation bombardments during the first stage of pregnancy has no effect, Hicks found.
The changes caused by radiation can also be produced by certain chemicals. Hicks hopes to prove, when the research is tied to humans, that some substances now taken commonly may be damaging to the unborn child. Further research is being supported by the Atomic Energy Commission and the United States Public Health Service.
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