• Dicentric Chromosomes
• Conventional Lymphocyte Metaphase-Dicentric Assay
• Scoring of Dicentrics

Dicentric Chromosomes

• Significant exposure to radiation will result in disruption of chrmosomes
• Increasing exposure dose will produce increasing numbers of abnormal chromosomes
• Techniques have been described for measuring the number of dicentric chromosomes in peripheral blood lymphocytes
• The number of dicentric chromosomes is correlated with and can be used to estimate exposure dose
• Counting the number of dicentric chromosomes is part of clinical biodosimetry, but it is time consuming and highly technique depedent.