22 August 2016

The Death Knell of the LNT Model?

The Death Knell of the LNT Model?


Biological and Environmental Research (BER)


Biological Systems Science Division (BSSD)


Radiobiology: Low Dose Radiation Research



Program Description

The Low Dose Program is unique within the US

 government in supporting experimental 

radiation biology research that studies the effects of 
very low dose exposures.


Program Accomplishments

Research from DOE's Low Dose Program re-examines

existing paradigms and provides the results that support

the development of new, biological paradigms.


One example that challenges an old assumption is the 
findings that exposure to a low vs. high dose of radiation 
results in both qualitatively as well as quantitatively 
different cellular and molecular responses, thus 
demonstrating non-linear response with respect to 
dose. 

Another is the finding that in addition to high-dose 
biological damage that may lead to cancer, 
very low dose radiation exposure may participate in 
beneficial biological outcomes by stimulation of our 
natural tissue surveillance mechanisms
These processes are shaped by physical 
exposure parameters that include dose, dose-rate and 
dose-distribution. 

The research has underscored the importance of the 
Low Dose Program's effort to study intact-tissue 
biological response to a stressor such as radiation 
exposure, rather than studying only the initial events 
within an individual cell.