Effects of Radiation on the body.

[Write4U]

Ok, I have a question about what part of the body is affected by radiation.

Using this source:

How does ionizing radiation affect health?
Ionizing radiation affects health when it causes changes in the cells of the human body. It does this by breaking the chemical bonds that hold together groups of atoms called molecules.

As Exchemist beautifully demonstrated.

For example, DNA molecules, which contain a person's genetic information, control the chemical and physical functions of human cells. If damaged, the DNA molecules are able to repair the damage in most cases; but in some instances, damage to DNA molecules will affect the ability of the cells to do their work and to pass information to new cells.

https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/4402/#

Question: What exactly in the cell does the processing and transporting of cellular information?

AFAIK whenever we speak about biochemical damage to cells we are talking about the cytoplasm and/or the cytoskeleton where all this action happens. So how can one possibly ignore the role microtubules must certainly play in the processing of "information" resulting from radiation damage?

And as all Eukaryotic organisms share microtubules in their biochemical information processing systems, i.e. cytoplasm and cytoskeleton, how can some "cells" resist radiation damage?

 

[James R]

Not another thread on microtubules. Closed.