Bushong: Radiologic Science for Technologists, 11th Edition

Chapter 32: Cellular Radiobiology

Answers to Challenge Questions

1. a. Outside the body or outside the cell.

b. Radiation-induced structural change in chromosomes.
c. Oxygen Enhancement Ratio (OER) is the ratio of the dose necessary to produce a
given effect under anoxic conditions to the dose necessary to give the same effect
under aerobic conditions. Tissue is more sensitive when irradiated in the oxygenated
state.
d. High-LET radiation: This is typically particulate (not electromagnetic) radiation
such as protons, neutrons, alpha particles, and heavy nuclei.
e. The radiobiologic theory that says for a cell to die, after radiation exposure, its target
molecule must be inactivated.
f. The dose that kills 63% of the cells after the single-hit single target model.
g. Analogous to D37 of the single-hit single target model. D0 refers to the single-hit
multitarget model.
h. Occurs when a radiation interaction occurs with the target.
i. The extrapolation number “n” is also sometimes called the target number.
j. The threshold dose in the multitarget model is called DQ. It is a measure of the
capacity to accumulate sublethal damage and the ability to recover from sublethal
damage.

2. Two types of interactions can occur: either a direct hit or an indirect hit.

3. There are four phases in the cell cycle: M, G1, S, and G2.

4. If x-rays acted uniformly, there would be no wasted x-rays, and the number of
surviving cells after a dose equal to D0 is zero.

5. A population of synchronized cells can be subdivided into smaller populations and

irradiated sequentially as they pass through the phases of the cell cycle.

6. We measure survival of cells instead of cell death because the lethal effects of radiation
are determined by observing cell survival, not cell death.

7. The three numerical parameters attendant to multitarget, single-hit kinetics are D0; the
extrapolation number “n,” also known as the target number; and the radiation dose D.

8. The single cell survival parameter “n,” the extrapolation number, is representative of
the number of targets.

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Answers to Challenge Questions 32-2

9. The RBE and OER are both measures of radiosensitivity of biologic tissue. For low-
LET radiation the OER is highest, the RBE is lowest. For high LET, the reverse is true.

10. They migrate within the cell, transferring energy to target molecules, and ultimately
join with another molecule to be neutralized.

11. That each cell contains a target site(s) on a target molecule, which must be hit in order
to cause cell death.

12. Radiation exposure of tissue is rather uniform because tissue is large on the x-ray
scale. However, radiation interaction with target molecules is random.

13. See Figure 32-12.

14. In vitro refers to irradiation that occurs outside the body or outside the cell; in vivo
irradiation is irradiation of macromolecules in the living cell.

15. D0 is the parameter that measures the ability of the cell to recover from sublethal
radiation damage.

16. The survival percentage after three D37 is only 5%.

17. RBE = (1.8 Gyt/0.40 Gyt) = 4.5.

18. A direct effect exists when the ionizing radiation interacts directly with the target
molecule DNA. An indirect effect occurs when the interaction is resulting from free
radicals transferring their energy to DNA.

19. The cell is most sensitive during the M phase and least sensitive during the last S
phase.

20. See Figure 32-13.

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