Radiobiology

Radiobiology (also known as radiation biology), as a field of clinical and basic medical sciences, originated from Leopold Freund's 1896 demonstration of the therapeutic treatment of a hairy mole using a new type of electromagnetic radiation called x-rays, which was discovered 1 year previously by the German physicist, Wilhelm Rontgen. At the same time, Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive polonium and radium later used to treat cancer. In simplest terms, radiobiology is the study of the action of ionizing radiation on living things.

Areas of interest

The interactions between organisms and electromagnetic fields (EMF) and ionizing radiation can be studied in a number of ways:

• Radiation physics
• Radiation chemistry
• molecular and cell biology
• Molecular genetics
• Cell death and apoptosis
• Dose modifying agents
• Protection and repair mechanisms
• Tissue responses to radiation
• Radio-adaptation of living organisms
• High and low-level electromagnetic radiation and health
• Specific absorption rates of organisms
• Radiation poisoning
• Radiation oncology (radiation therapy in cancer)
• Bioelectromagnetics
• Electric field and Magnetic field - their general nature.
• Electrophysiology - the scientific study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues.
• Biomagnetism - the magnetic properties of living systems (see, for example, the research of David Cohen using SQUID imaging) and Magnetobiology - the study of effect of magnets upon living systems. See also Electromagnetic radiation and health
• Bioelectromagnetism - the electromagnetic properties of living systems and Bioelectromagnetics - the study of the effect of electromagnetic fields on living systems.
• Electrotherapy
• Radiation therapy
• Electroconvulsive therapy
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation - a powerful electrical current produces a transient, spatially focussed magnetic field that can penetrate the scalp and skull of a subject and induce electrical activity in the neurons on the surface of the brain.
• Magnetic resonance imaging - a very powerful magnetic field is used to obtain a 3D image of the density of water molecules of the brain, revealing different anatomical structures. A related technique, functional magnetic resonance imaging, reveals the pattern of blood flow in the brain and can show which parts of the brain are involved in a particular task.
• Embryogenesis, Ontogeny and Developmental biology - a discipline that has given rise to many scientific field theories.
• Bioenergetics - the study of energy exchange on the molecular level of living systems.
• Biological psychiatry, Neurology, Psychoneuroimmunology
• Bioluminescence - a marked phosphoresecence found in fungi, deep-sea creatures etc., as against Biophoton - a much weaker electromagnetic radiation, thought by Alexander Gurwitsch, its discoverer, to be a form of signalling.

The activity of biological and astronomical systems inevitably generates magnetic and electrical fields, which can be measured with sensitive instruments and which have at times been suggested as a basis for "esoteric" ideas of energy.

Radiation sources for radiobiology

Radiobiology experiments typically make use of a radiation source which could be:

• An isotopic source, typically ¹³⁷Cs or ⁶⁰Co.
• A particle accelerator generating high energy protons, electrons or charged ions. Biological samples can be irradiated using either a broad, uniform beam or using a microbeam, focused down to cellular or subcellular sizes.
• A UV lamp.

See also

• Radiosensitivity
• Radiology
• Nuclear medicine
• Radioactivity in biology
• Radiophobia
• Cell survival curve
• Relative biological effectiveness
• Health threat from cosmic rays
• Background radiation

References and further reading

• WikiMindMap
• Eric Hall, Radiobiology for the Radiobiologist. 2006. Lippincott
• G.Gordon Steel, "Basic Clinical Radiobiology". 2002. Hodder Arnold.
• The Institute for Radiation Biology at the Helmholtz-Center for Environmental Health [1]

External links

• The Institute for Radiation Biology at the Helmholtz-Center for Environmental Health