Analysis of chromosome aberrations in atomic bomb survivors for dose assessment: studies at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation from 1968 to 1993.

Exposure to ionizing radiation causes damage to living cells, especially to DNA in the cell nucleus. The degree of this cellular damage depends on the amount of radiation administered. This review discusses current findings concerning radiation-induced chromosome aberrations that were produced in 1945 and that can still be observed in the somatic cells of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The scoring methods of G-banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization are compared. In addition, some findings concerning chromosomal aberrations in citizens of the former Soviet Union affected by the Chernobyl accident are presented.