Page last modified on 9-Nov-2009

Studying biological effects of alpha particles in vivo using zebrafish embryos

An adult zebrafish, Danio rerio.

In recent years, the zebrafish, Danio rerio, a small vertebrate from Southeast Asia, has become a preferred model for studying human disease, including carcinogenesis. The most important advantage is that the human and zebrafish genomes share considerable homology, including conservation of most DNA repair-related genes. Rapid embryonic development is another advantage so the effects can be assessed within 24 hours post fertilization (hpf). The studied biological effects of alpha particles in vivo include the hormetic effect and the bystander effect. (more ...)

In vitro studies of radiation induced bystander effects (RIBE)

Generally, RIBE can be defined as the phenomenon that the irradiated cells (by α particles, X- or γ-ray, heavy ions etc.) can release some signaling molecule(s), which is transferred via the medium or gap-junctions, so that the same cytotoxicity or genotoxicity can be observed in the non-irradiated cells, which are either close to the irradiated cells or shared the conditioned medium harvested from the irradiated cells. RIBE has challenged the conventional dogma of radiation protection, the guidelines for which are based on prediction of biological effects of low doses of radiation by extrapolating from known epidemiological datasets. (more ...)