The Biological Effects of Radiation
Whether the source of radiation is natural or man made, whether it is a small dose of radiation or a large dose, there will be some biological effects. Radiation causes ionizations of atoms, which will affect molecules, which may affect cells, which may affect tissues, and so on. Although most people tend to think of biological effects in terms of the effect of radiation on living cells, in actuality, ionizing radiation, by definition, interacts only with atoms by a process called ionization (Chandra p. 205). Thus, all biological damage effects begin with the consequence of radiation interactions with the atoms forming the cells.
Even though all subsequent biological effects can be traced back to the interaction of radiation with atoms, there are two mechanisms by which radiation ultimately affects cells. These two mechanisms are commonly called direct and indirect effects.
If radiation interacts with the atoms of the DNA molecule, or some other cellular component critical to the survival of the cell, it is referred to as a direct effect. Such interaction may affect the ability of the cell to reproduce and, thus, survive. If enough atoms are affected in such a way that the chromosomes do not replicate properly, or there is a significant alteration in the information carried by the DNA molecule, then the cell may be destroyed by “direct” interference with its life-sustaining system.
Indirect effects are caused by the reaction of radiation with the water that makes up the majority of the cells volume. When radiation interacts with water, it may break the bonds that hold the water molecule together. This produces fragments of hydrogen and hydroxyls. These fragments may recombine or they may interact with other fragments to form compounds, such as water, which would not harm the cell. It is when these fragments combine to form toxic substances, such as hydrogen peroxide, that the destruction of the cell results.
Biological effects of radiation are typically divided into two categories. The first category consists of exposure to “high doses of radiation over brief intervals of time” producing acute effects (Hall p. 15). The second category represents exposure to “low doses of radiation over extended periods of time” producing chronic or long term effects (Hall p.15). High doses tend to kill cells, while low doses tend to damage or change them. High doses can kill so many cells that tissues and organs are damaged.
Radiation exposure can affect children as well an children have the risk of being the most harmfully effected by radiation because their body absorbs substances differently also their bodies can or are more likely to get certain kinds of cancers from too much exposure, “they are also closer to the ground, where radioactive fallouts settle.”
Gale, Robert Peter., and Eric Lax. Radiation: What It Is, What You Need to Know. New York: Random House, 2013. Print.
Radiation Effects Research Foundation. (2007). How radiation affects cells. In Basics About Radiation. Retrieved from http://www.rerf.jp/radfx/basickno_e/radcell.htm
Heat and x-rays are an example of radiation. A type of non-ionizing radiation is radiofrequency radiation. (Cancer 1) If radiofrequency radiation is engrossed in large amounts of materials containing water and food it can produce heat. This can lead to burns, tissue damage, and harm DNA cells. Heat is the main effect of exposure to radiofrequency. (Cancer 2)
Radiation therapy is the utilization of radiation in order to treat diseases like cancer as well as to detect other ailments that someone may have. Since the development of radiation therapy many advancements have been made both to the process of using radiation itself, which in turn increased its effectiveness for medical use, and to the study of other possible uses for radiation. The concepts behind radiation therapy are not overly complicated, but they are still revolutionary ideas that have greatly impacted society and people’s wellness.
Radiation is something that the naked eye cannot see, yet has the potential to save lives one treatment at a time or even one image at a time. Since the discovery of x-rays in 1895, it has branched out into numerous modalities each independently specializing in their own ways. X rays are used to aid in the diagnosis and treatments of patients on a case by case scenario. Sometimes doctors can make a diagnosis on the same day or conclude that a patient will require radiation therapy within weeks to follow. Whatever it may be, the importance of x rays and radiation itself is a crucial part of the medical field when it comes to saving lives. Initially it all started with the discovery of x rays but then three years later radiation therapy was introduced to aid with
Radiation has always been in everyday life even before Roentgen discovered x-ray. The mountains give off natural radiation, other forms of radiation are coal burning power plants, x-rays from a TV, and an airplane ride. The average dose from background radiation is about 360 mrem every year. There are two types of radiation, nonionizing and ionizing radiation. Examples of nonionizing radiation are microwaves and radio waves broadcasting. Ionizing radiation refers to gamma and x-rays. Ionizing radiation means that the rays are able to remove an electron from the atom then ions can be formed. The ions can cause damage when reacting with other atoms. Cells are able to be repaired if low dose are received. However, if cells get a high dose, the cells will be damaged or possibly die. If the cell is damaged permanently then it is referred to as a mutated cell.
... cells, or by placing radioactive material inside your body; side effects can include fatigue, sun burn rash or tissue may seem swollen.
DNA damage is a proven biomarker of radiation effects. Cytogenetic techniques commonly employed for detecting DNA strand breakages include chromosome aberrations, micronucleus and comet assay under field and laboratory circumstances. In recent times, flow cytometry (FCM) has been widely used to quantify DNA damage since it offers the analysis of a high number of nuclei in a few minutes providing statistically reliable results in a short period of time. Ideally, all cells within an organism contain the same amount of DNA. DNA damage results from the breakage and rearrangement of chromosomes and from interference with the normal segregation of chromosome during cell division. Double strand breaks are the most important DNA lesions caused by ionizing radiation and other damages from exposure to genotoxic agents resulting in cells with an abnormally high or low DNA content. This variability can be detected as an increased coefficient of variation (CV) of cells in G0/G1 phase as measured by flow cytometry.
The risks that can develop cancer are complicated and complex. To indicate one single cause of cancer is hard. However, certain environmental causes are strongly interrelated with the cause of particular cancers, such as cigarette smoking and lung cancer and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light and skin cancer (CancerSource). It is also known that, “Ionizing radiation consists of x-rays, UV light, and radioactivity whose energy can damage cells and chromosomes. Radioactivity increases the risk of cancer.” Source to indicate the effects of radioactivity is the U.S bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After all these years, the Japanese are still suffering from all kinds of cancer caused by many long lived chemicals such as Strontium-90 and Cesium-147 from the fallout. “High rate of leukemia” was found among the people who had survived Hiroshima and Nagasa...
How does radiation in our environment affect us? In order to understand how radiation affects us, we first must understand how it is produced. Fission is the initial step. It is the splitting of uranium or plutonium atoms which produces radioactive "fission fragments" and "activation products" (Bertell, 1985). These products then ionize normal atoms, which leads to a sort of domino affect microscopically. This chain reaction can also cause activation products to be produced by causing chemicals in the air,...
...develop the ability to tolerate the high-energy concentration. The main cells that are affected by the radiation exposer are the cells that are dividing cells such as blood and skin cells. Ralph A. Neumüller and Juergen A. Knoblich (2009). All the normal cells are exposed to a percentage of radiation energy thus take time to recover to be able to function in same way.
Cancer has become a very common illness world wide for any age but mostly affecting adults. One can get cancer from different places in the body that is why there are so many people with cancer, because of all the different types. Cancer can affect any gender, female or male, and any age. It varies from ovarian cancer to prostate cancer, skin cancer to lukemia. Cancer has been a problem for many years yet we have not found a cure to treat and prevent cancer. If one is affected by cancer there are treatments to help take away this illness affecting their body. This essay is about a specific type of treatment for cancer, radiation therapy. There are different types of forms of particles for radiation, for example, protons and waves like x-rays and visible light. These types of radiations are grouped on how much energy they contain because it can cause different affects. A low type of energy radiation can be radio waves and heat, also known as non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation has enough energy to break chemical bonds and knock electrons out of atoms, some examples of these are x-rays and ultraviolet light rays from the sun. That is why radiation is a way to treat cancer because of the strong energy it has to destroy a cancer cell, actually any cell in the body. That’s the issue with radiation therapy, is it worth the damage? It can damage any cell, wether it is healthy or cancerous, which can cause a major affect in the body later on. Although it sounds scary there are other types of treatments such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, etc. So if radiation therapy does not sound like the best there are always other options but they do not develop the same results for radiation therapy. Rad...
Chernobyl was unique in the commercial nuclear power industry because it was the only accident in history where radiation- related fatalities occurred. These radiation- related fatalities occur in the form of cancers, primarily thyroid and leukemia, digestive d...
The energy in ionizing radiation can cause chemical changes in the the cells that can lead to damaging them. Most of the cells can either permanently or temporarily become abnormal or they can just die. Radiation can cause cancer by damaging the DNA in the body. The damage of the cells can also depend on how long the organs are exposed (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). If someone has many exposures at one time that radiation in the body keeps adding on. As well as if its only a little bit of exposure in on day and years later you get exposed again it keeps adding on the radiation will never leave the body. Having radiation in your body doesn’t affect you right away but as you get older it starts to show and you feel it. Chronic exposure is when someone is exposed many time for long periods. When this happens the type of effects it will carry is having harmful generic change, cancer, tumors, and even cataracts. Partial health effects can also depend on if it was internal or external exposure. Internal exposure is when either by drinking, breathing, eating and even an injection cause radiation to get inside your body. External exposure is when taking an x-ray out of your body and letting it go through letting all the energy go as it goes in (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). In the dental world radiation gets into the patients when we take x-rays on there teeth. In order to avoid to much radiation on them we put a lead apron on them and make sure to cover their thyroid which is the most common way of getting cancer when taking an x-ray. When we take the x-ray we stand behind a wall at least 6 feet away to avoid ourself from getting