IONIZING RADIATION, FREE RADICAL GENERATION,

SUBCELLULAR RADIOGENIC DAMAGE

Masum Chawdhury
Roll: 517
Introduction
1. The stability of the atom is indicated by electron
pairing in the outermost orbit.
2. To maintain stability, each electron in the outer
the orbit must be paired with another electron.

Free radicals
1. A free radical is simply an atom with one or
more unpaired electrons in its outer orbit.
2. Unpaired electrons cause radicals to be
highly reactive.
Cell damage can be caused by direct or indirect ionization.
How to Produce Free Radical Types and frequency of radiation-induced
damage
Radiation-induced DNA damage, repair mechanisms and
possible consequences in mammalian cells

The major effect of ionizing radiation in cells is DNA damage.

Since DNA consists of a pair of complementary strands, breaks of
either a single strand or both strands can occur. Depending on the
character of DNA damage, an appropriate repair mechanism will
be activated. Single-strand breaks (SSBs) and base modifications
are eliminated by the base-excision repair (BER) machinery which
generally lead to successful repair. Double-strand breaks (DSBs)
are repaired by homologous recombination (HR) or, more often,
by non- homologous end joining (NHEJ). In case DSB repair
processes are erroneous or unsuccessful, the cell can decide to
undergo apoptosis or necrosis, become senescent or differentiate
prematurely (in the case of stem cells). All of these options would
result in removal of damaged cells from the proliferative pool. The
inability to activate these pathways in cells with damaged DNA,
can lead to malignant transformation of the cell and ultimately
cancer development. 
Some examples of radiation-induced chromosomal
structural changes
(A) Chromosome-type aberrations – all breaks
and rejoins affect both sister-chromatids at the
same locus. Only forms that produce acentric
fragments are visible with solid staining.

(B) Chromatid-type aberrations – all breaks and

rejoins affect only one of the sister chromatids at
any one locus.

(C) Many forms lead to mechanical separation

problems at anaphase (‘inter-cell bridges’) and
acentric fragments are usually excluded from the
daughter nuclei, leading to ‘micronuclei’ in their
cytoplasm

(D) The exclusion of any visible fragment means

the loss of many megabases of DNA. These
bridges and fragments are the primary cause of
cell lethality and genetic imbalance.