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Biological Effects of Radiation

Biological Effects of Radiation

All radioactive nuclides emit high-energy particles or electromagnetic waves. When this radiation encounters living cells, it can cause heating, break chemical bonds, or ionize molecules. The most serious biological damage results when these radioactive emissions fragment or ionize molecules. For example, α and β particles emitted from nuclear decay reactions possess much higher energies than ordinary chemical bond energies. When these particles strike and penetrate matter, they produce ions...

Mutations

Mutations

Mutations are changes in the sequence of DNA. These changes can occur spontaneously or they can be induced by exposure to environmental factors. Mutations can be characterized in a number of different ways: whether and how they alter the amino acid sequence of the protein, whether they occur over a small or large area of DNA, and whether they occur in somatic cells or germline cells.
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...

Bystander Effect

Bystander Effect

The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds.

Spontaneous and Induced Mutations

Spontaneous and Induced Mutations

Spontaneous mutations arise infrequently during DNA replication due to errors in the process. A key factor behind these errors is tautomeric shifts in nitrogenous bases, where bases transition from keto to enol forms or amino to imino forms. This shift can alter base-pairing rules, leading to mutations. Additionally, reactive oxygen species (ROS) arising from aerobic metabolism can damage DNA, resulting in depurination (loss of a purine base) or depyrimidination (loss of a pyrimidine base).

Toxic Reactions: Overview

Toxic Reactions: Overview

When toxic substances penetrate the human body, they disseminate to various tissues, undergoing metabolic changes. This process yields reactive metabolites that may covalently bind with specific target molecules, resulting in toxicity.
Toxicity falls into two primary categories: local and systemic.
Local toxicity appears at the exposure site, such as protein denaturation caused by caustic substances.
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Nucleotide Excision Repair

Nucleotide Excision Repair

DNA Distortion and Damage
Cells are regularly exposed to mutagens—factors in the environment that can damage DNA and generate mutations. UV radiation is one of the most common mutagens and is estimated to introduce a significant number of changes in DNA. These include bends or kinks in the structure, which can block DNA replication or transcription. If these errors are not fixed, the damage can cause mutations, which in turn can result in cancer or disease depending on which sequences are...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 18, 2026

An Automated Microscopic Scoring Method for the γ-H2AX Foci Assay in Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes

An Automated Microscopic Scoring Method for the γ-H2AX Foci Assay in Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes

Published on: December 25, 2021

Non-targeted bystander effects induced by ionizing radiation.

William F Morgan¹, Marianne B Sowa

¹Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory, and Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, BRB 7-011, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201-1509, USA. WFMorgan@som.umaryland.edu.

Mutation Research

|December 1, 2006

Summary

Radiation-induced bystander effects occur in cells not directly hit by radiation, influencing health risk assessments. Understanding these non-targeted responses is crucial for radiation protection and biology.

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Measuring DNA Damage and Repair in Mouse Splenocytes After Chronic In Vivo Exposure to Very Low Doses of Beta- and Gamma-Radiation

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Published on: July 3, 2015

Area of Science:

Radiobiology
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Radiation Health Effects

Background:

Radiation-induced bystander effects are responses in non-targeted cells following ionizing radiation exposure.
These effects can occur in neighboring or physically distant cells via signaling molecules.
Observed across various radiation types and experimental models (in vitro and in vivo).

Purpose of the Study:

To review evidence for non-targeted radiation-induced bystander effects.
To highlight critical unanswered questions in this research area.
To discuss the significance of bystander effects for evaluating radiation health risks.

Main Methods:

Literature review of existing research on radiation-induced bystander effects.
Analysis of evidence for non-targeted cellular responses.
Discussion of prevailing questions and future research directions.

Main Results:

Bystander effects are a confirmed phenomenon in radiation biology.
Evidence supports both contact-dependent and signaling-mediated bystander responses.
The field is rapidly developing with significant open questions.

Conclusions:

Radiation-induced bystander effects are a significant factor in understanding radiation's biological impact.
Further research is needed to address critical questions regarding mechanisms and health implications.
Bystander effects are important for accurate radiation risk assessment.