ABSTRACT
The increasing use of radiation in the modern world and recent incidents of massive radiation exposure dictate that certain basic elements of radiation toxicity be addressed. Radiation toxicology is the study of the adverse effects of radiation on living organisms. It is a multidisciplinary science, borrowing freely from several of the basic sciences. The cytopathologic consequences of radiation exposure are similar to those induced in other types of cellular injury. Radiation-induced cell changes may result in death of the organism, death of the cells, modulation of physiological activity, or cancers that have no features distinguishing them from those induced by other types of cell injury. Electromagnetic radiation is divided into nonionizing and ionizing radiation according to the energy required to eject electrons from molecules [688]. Ionizing radiation, which may exhibit the properties of both waves and particles, has sufficient energy to produce ionization in matter. The ionizing radiations that exhibit corpuscular properties include alpha and beta particles, while those that behave more like waves of energy include x-rays and gamma rays. Radiation exposure comes from many sources and may be
directly ionizing
or
indirectly ionizing
.
Directly ionizing radiation carries an electric charge that
