Abstract
In the history of radiation biology, until relatively recently, major attention had been paid to the effects of radiation of high doses. This was the case not only for the basic biology, but also for the application of biological radiation effects in medicine, agriculture and other areas; cell killing effects or mutagenic effects of high dose radiation has been utilized. Recent research on biology at low dose range revealed a number of phenomena that cannot be explained by the effects observed at high doses, including radiation adaptive responses, bystander effects, and genomic instability. Certain types of radiation responses are thought to be involved in such phenomena. They are intriguing subjects as a basic science, and they also have an impact on the utilization of radiation and the framework of risk estimation.Here in this session, biological effects of low dose/dose rate radiation are reviewed and their significance will be discussed.
