title: Basic principles of molecular effects of irradiation.
abstract: In order to understand the consequences of radiation a thorough understanding of the radiobiological mechanisms of the molecular up to the clinical level is of importance. Radiobiology therefore combines the basic principles of physics as well as biology and medicine and is concerned with the action of radiation from the subcellular level up to the living organism. Topics of interest and relevance are covered in much more broadness as is possible in the short following article in the literature to which the interested reader is referred to. Classical books in this field were written by Steel et al. (1989) as well as by Hall (1994). Topics usually covered by radiobiological reviews are the classification of different types of radiation, cell cycle dependency of radiation effects, types of radiation damage and cell death, dose response curves, measurement of radiation damage, the oxygen effect, relative biological effectiveness, the influence of dose rate, and several other important research areas. This short overview will concentrate on a subset of radiobiological topics of high importance and relative novelty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. edgar.selzer@meduniwien.ac.at
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Selzer
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hebar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000528:radiation effects; D024201:Bystander Effect; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000528:radiation effects; D016923:Cell Death / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000528:radiation effects; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004249:DNA Damage; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D042822:Genomic Instability / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D018499:Linear Energy Transfer; D008938:Mitosis / Q000528:radiation effects; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000209:etiology; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D011836:Radiation Tolerance; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000528:radiation effects