Abstract
Biological dosimetry is an essential tool for estimating radiation doses received from individuals when the physical dosimetry is not available or inadequate. Early knowledge about the absorbed dose levels in radiation accidents is of paramount importance for selecting the unaffected subjects from those individuals requiring medical evaluation and intervention. A lesson learned from many radiological incidents is the importance to identify the “worried well.”
Several assays are useful for biological dosimetry approaches, since no one single assay is sufficiently robust for all potential radiation scenarios including early-phase acute exposures, partial-body exposures, and biosampling years after exposure or in case of suspected mixed exposures (radiological and chemicals).
The most commonly used biodosimetry methods are based on the evaluation of the radiation-specific dicentric chromosomes (Dic) and micronuclei (MN) in exposed individuals’ peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL).
The present chapter does not claim to make an exhaustive and complete picture on the complex world of biodosimetry, to which a large number of specific guidelines for performing laboratory services by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are dedicated, but it aims to support the reader in understanding the application of two cytogenetic methods in the individual ionizing radiation dose assessment, suggesting some appropriate scientific sources to consult for each case.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsSpringer Nature is developing a new tool to find and evaluate Protocols. Learn more
References
IAEA (2011) Cytogenetic dosimetry: applications in preparedness for and response to radiation emergencies. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna
ISO 19238:2014 (2014) Radiological protection: Performance criteria for service laboratories performing biological dosimetry by cytogenetics
ISO 21243:2008 (2008) Radiation protection: Performance criteria for laboratories performing cytogenetic triage for assessment of mass casualties in radiological or nuclear emergencies: General principles and application to dicentric assay
ISO 17099:2014 (2014) Radiological protection: Performance criteria for laboratories using the cytokinesis block micronucleus (CBMN) assay in peripheral blood lymphocytes for biological dosimetry
ICRU REPORT 68 (2002) Retrospective assessment of exposure to ionising radiation. Vol 2 ISSN 1473--6691
Ainsbury EA, Bakhanova E, Barquinero JF et al (2011) Review of retrospective dosimetry techniques for external ionising radiation exposures. Radiat Prot Dosim 147(4):573–592. https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncq499
Lloyd DC, Edwards AA, Moquet JE et al (2000) The role of cytogenetics in early triage of radiation casualties. Appl Radiat Isot 52(5):1107–1112
Fenech M, Morley AA (1985) Measurement of micronuclei in lymphocytes. Mutat Res 147(1--2):29–36
Scott D, Lyons CY (1979) Homogeneous sensitivity of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to radiation-induced chromosome damage. Nature 279:756–758
Perry P, Wolff S (1974) New Giemsa method for the differential staining of sister chromatids. Nature 251:156–158
Heddle JA, Fenech M, Hayashi M et al (2011) Reflections on the development of micronucleus assays. Mutagenesis 26(1):3–10
Hayashi M, Sofuni T, Ishidate MJ (1983) An application of Acridine Orange fluorescent staining to the micronucleus test. Mutat Res 120:241–247
Fenech M (2007) Cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome assay. Nat Protoc 2:1084–1104
Fabry L, Lemaire M (1986) Dose response relationships for radiation induced chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes in vivo and in vitro. Strahlentherapie 162:63–67
Deperas J et al (2007) CABAS: a freely available PC program for fitting calibration curves in chromosome aberration dosimetry. Radiat Prot Dosim 124:115–123
Ainsbury EA, Lloyd DC (2010) Dose estimation software for radiation biodosimetry. Health Phys 98:290–295
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Testa, A., Palma, V., Patrono, C. (2019). Dicentric Chromosome Assay (DCA) and Cytokinesis-Block Micronucleus (CBMN) Assay in the Field of Biological Dosimetry. In: Dhawan, A., Bajpayee, M. (eds) Genotoxicity Assessment. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2031. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9646-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9646-9_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9645-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9646-9
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols