[Radiation situation prognosis for deep space: reactions of water and living systems to chronic low-dose ionizing irradiation].

The authors review the findings of researches into the effects of low-dose ionizing irradiation on diverse biological objects (embryonic Japanese quails, Aspergillus niger, Spirostomum ambiguum Ehrbg., mesenchymal stem cells from mouse marrow, dry higher plants seeds, blood lymphocytes from pilots and cosmonauts). Model experiments with chronic exposure to ionizing radiation doses comparable with the measurements inside orbital vehicles and estimations for trips through the interplanetary space resulted in morphological disorders (embryonic Japanese quails, Aspergillus niger), radiation hormesis (Aspergillus niger, MSCs from mouse marrow), increase in the seed germination rate, inhibition of Spirostomum spontaneous activity, DNA damages, chromosomal aberrations, and increase of the blood lymphocytes reactivity to additional radiation loading. These facts give grounds to assume that the crucial factor in the radiation outcomes is changes in liquid medium. In other words, during extended orbiting within the magnetosphere region and interplanetary missions ionizing radiation affects primarily liquids of organism and, secondarily, its morphofunctional structures.