Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

A Co-culture Method to Investigate the Crosstalk Between X-ray Irradiated Caco-2 Cells and PBMC
Published on: January 30, 2018
THE MECHANISMS OF X-RAY EFFECTS ON CELLS
1Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, Cambridge.
Abstract:
Irradiation of Tradescantia microspores does not increase subsequent sensitivity to x-rays as measured by the frequency of induced chromosomal aberrations curing the nuclear cycle. The slight decrease in sensitivity is to be expected because acentric fragments are less sensitive than the centric chromosomes. The physiological effects of x-rays appear to be of minor importance in causing injury or death of individual cells, and most of the deleterious effects can be attributed to "direct hits" which produce chromosomal alterations. In the reaction of tissues to x-rays the physiological effects may play a more important part.
Related Concept Videos
X-ray Imaging
Biological Effects of Radiation
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
X-ray Diffraction of Biological Samples
According to Bragg's law, when X-rays strike the sample positioned on a stage, the rays are scattered by the electron clouds around the sample atoms. The X-ray diffraction or scattering is caused by constructive interference of the X-ray waves that reflect off the internal crystal...
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
X-ray Crystallography
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...

