Biological Dosimetry in Astronauts

Biodosimetry data provides a direct measurement of space radiation damage, which takes into account individual radiosensitivity in the presence of confounding factors such as microgravity and other stress conditions. In contrast to physical measurements, which are external to body and require multiple devices to detect all radiation types all of which have poor sensitivity to neutrons, biodosimetry is internal and includes the effects of shielding provided by the body itself plus chromosome damage shows excellent sensitivity to protons, heavy ions, and neutrons. Moreover, chromosome damage maybe reflective of cancer risk and biodosimetry values can therefore be used to validate and develop risk assessment models that can be used to characterize excess health risk incurred by crewmembers. Cytogenetic biodosimetry methods have been used extensively for assessing terrestrial radiation exposures, and remain the most sensitive in vivo indicator of dose available to date. The main cellular radiation target is the DNA, and radiation-induced damage in the DNA molecule can be visualized as aberrations in the chromosomes (breaks in the chromosomes or exchanges of DNA material between different chromosomes). Normal chromosomes contain a single condensed and constricted area called a centromere that helps the chromosome number to remain stable when a cell divides.