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Radioresistance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Radioresistance is the property of organisms that are capable of living in environments with very high levels
of ionizing radiation.

Radioresistance is surprisingly high in many organisms, in contrast to previously held views. For example, the
study of environment, animals and plants around the Chernobyl disaster area has revealed an unexpected
survival of many species, despite the high radiation levels. A Brazilian study in a hill in the state of Minas
Gerais which has high natural radiation levels from uranium deposits, has also shown many
radioresistant insects, worms and plants.[1][2] Certain extremophiles, such as the bacteria Deinococcus
radiodurans and the tardigrades can withstand acute doses of ionizing radiation on the order of 5,000 Gy.[3][4][5]

Contents

  [hide] 

 1 Induced radioresistance

 2 Inheritance of radioresistance

 3 Radioresistance in radiation oncology

 4 Radioresistance comparison

 5 See also

 6 Notes and references

 7 Further reading

Induced radioresistance[edit]

Radioresistance may be induced by exposure to small doses of ionizing radiation. Several studies have
documented this effect in yeast,bacteria, protozoa, algae, plants, insects, as well as in in vitro mammalian and
human cells and in animal models. Several cellular radioprotection mechanisms may be involved, such as
alterations in the levels of some cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins and increasedgene expression, DNA
repair and other processes.

Many organisms have been found to possess a self-repair mechanism that can be activated by exposure to
radiation in some cases. Two examples of this self-repair process in humans are described below.

Devair Alves Ferreira received a large dose (7.0 Gy) during the Goiânia accident, and lived, whereas his wife,
who got a dose of 5.7 Gy, died. The most likely explanation [citation needed] is that his dose was fractionated into
many smaller doses which were absorbed over a length of time while his wife stayed in the house more and
was subjected to continuous irradiation without a break so giving the self repair mechanisms in her body less
time to repair some of the damage done by the radiation. This resulted in her death. He also eventually died. In
the same way some of the persons who worked in the basement of the wrecked Chernobyl have built up doses
of 10 Gy, these workers received these doses in small fractions so the acute effects were avoided.

It has been found in radiation biology experiments that if a group of cells are irradiated then as the dose
increases the number of cells which survive decrease. It has also been found that if a population of cells are
given a dose before being set aside (without being irradiated) for a length of time before being irradiated again
then the radiation has less of an ability to cause cell death. The human body contains many types of cells and a
human can be killed by the loss of a single tissue in a vital organ. For many short term radiation deaths (3 days
to 30 days) the loss of cells forming blood cells (bone marrow) and the cells in the digestive system (wall of
theintestines) cause death.

In the graph below, a dose/survival curve for a hypothetical group of cells has been drawn with and without a
rest time for the cells to recover. Other than the recovery time partway through the irradiation, the cells would
have been treated identically.

Inheritance of radioresistance[edit]

There is strong evidence that radioresistance can be genetically determined and inherited, at least in some
organisms. Heinrich Nöthel, a geneticist from the Freie Universität Berlin carried out the most extensive study
about radioresistance mutations using the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, in a series of 14
publications.

Radioresistance in radiation oncology[edit]

Radioresistance is also a term sometimes used in medicine (oncology) for cancer cells which are difficult to
treat with radiotherapy. Radioresistance of cancer cells may be intrinsic or induced by the radiation therapy
itself.

Radioresistance comparison[edit]

The comparison below is meant to give an indication of radioresistance for different species. There are
generally big differences in radioresistance between experiments due to small number of specimens and being
unable to control the testing environment (the number for human for instance was determined from the
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in WWII).

Lethal radiation doses (gray)

Lethal
Organism LD50 LD100 Class/kingdom
dose

Dog   3.5 (LD50/30 days)[6]   Mammals

Human 4-10[7] 4.5[8] 10[9] Mammals

Rat   7.5   Mammals

Mouse 4.5-12 8.6-9   Mammals

Rabbit   8 (LD50/30 days)[6]   Mammals

Tortoise   15 (LD50/30 days)[6]   Reptile

Goldfish   20 (LD50/30 days)[6]   Fish

Escherichia coli 60   60 Bacteria

German cockroach   64[7]   Insects

Shellfish   200 (LD50/30 days)[6]   -

Fruit fly 640[7]     Insects

Amoeba   1000 (LD50/30 days)[6]   -

Braconidae 1800[7]     Insects

Milnesium tardigradum 5000[10]     Eutardigrade

Deinococcus radiodurans 15000[7]     Bacteria

Thermococcus gammatolerans 30000[7]     Archaea

See also[edit]

 Ex-Rad a radioprotective drug studied for its ability to protect against acute radiation syndrome

 CBLB502 a similar radioprotective drug, that protects against acute radiation syndrome,

during radiotherapy.

 Radiosensitivity

 Background radiation

 Radiation hormesis
Notes and references[edit]

1. Jump up^ Cordeiro, AR; Marques, EK; Veiga-Neto, AJ (1973). "Radioresistance of a natural population

of Drosophila willistoniliving in a radioactive environment.". Mutation research 19 (3): 325–

9. doi:10.1016/0027-5107(73)90233-9.PMID 4796403.
 2. Jump up^ Moustacchi, E (1965). "Induction by physical and chemical agents of mutations for

radioresistance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae". Mutation research 2 (5): 403–12. doi:10.1016/0027-

5107(65)90052-7. PMID 5878261.

3. Jump up^ Moseley BEB, Mattingly A (1971). "Repair of irradiated transforming deoxyribonu- cleic acid in

wild type and a radiation- sensitive mutant of Micrococcus radiodu- rans". J. Bacteriol105 (3): 976–

83. PMC 248526. PMID 4929286.

4. Jump up^ Murray RGE. 1992. The family Deino- coccaceae. In The Prokaryotes, ed. A Ballows, HG

Truper, M Dworkin, W Harder, KH Schleifer 4:3732–44. New York: Springer-Verlag

5. Jump up^ Ito H, Watanabe H, Takeshia M, Iizuka H (1983). "Isolation and identification of radiation-

resistant cocci belonging to the genus Deinococcus from sewage sludges and animal feeds. Agric".Biol.

Chem. 47: 1239–47.

6. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Radiochemistry and Nuclear Chemistry, G. Choppin, J-O. Liljenzin and J. Rydberg,

edition three, page 481, ISBN 0-7506-7463-6

7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f "Cockroaches & Radiation". Retrieved 2006-05-13.

8. Jump up^ "Radiation Notes: Radiation Damage and Dose Measurement". Retrieved 2006-05-13.

9. Jump up^ "CDC Radiation Emergencies, Acute Radiation Syndrome: A Fact Sheet for Physicians".

10. Jump up^ Horikawa DD, Sakashita T, Katagiri C, Watanabe M, Kikawada T, Nakahara Y, Hamada N,

Wada S, Funayama T, Higashi S, Kobayashi Y, Okuda T, Kuwabara M. (2006). "Radiation tolerance in the

tardigrade Milnesium tardigradum". International Journal of Radiation Biology 82 (12): 843–

8.doi:10.1080/09553000600972956. PMID 17178624.

Further reading[edit]

 Joiner, M.C. (1994). "Induced Radioresistance: An Overview and Historical Perspective". International

Journal of Radiation Biology 65(1): 79–84. doi:10.1080/09553009414550111. PMID 7905914.

 Clifton Ling, C.; Endlich, B. (1989). "Radioresistance Induced by Oncogenic Transformation". Radiation

Research 120 (2): 267–79.doi:10.2307/3577713. PMID 2694214.

 Nothel, H. (1987). "Adaptation of Drosophila melanogaster Populations to High Mutation Pressure:

Evolutionary Adjustment of Mutation Rates". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 84 (4):
1045–9. doi:10.1073/pnas.84.4.1045.PMC 304358. PMID 3103121.