Low dose ionising radiation produces too few ROS to directly affect antioxidant concentrations in cells

It has been hypothesised that radiation-induced oxidative stress is the mechanism for a wide range of negative impacts on biota living in radioactively contaminated areas around Chernobyl. The present study tests this hypothesis mechanistically for the first time by modelling the impacts of radiolysis products within the cell resulting from radiations (low LET β and γ) and dose rates appropriate to current contamination types and densities in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and at Fukushima. At 417 μGy h-1 (illustrative of the most contaminated areas at Chernobyl), generation of radiolysis products did not significantly impact cellular concentrations of reactive oxygen species, or cellular redox potential. This study does not support the hypothesis that direct oxidising stress is a mechanism for damage to organisms exposed to chronic radiation at dose rates typical of contaminated environments.