Protection of normal tissues against toxic effects of ionizing radiation is a critical issue in clinical and environmental radiobiology. Investigations in recent decades have suggested potential targets that are involved in the protection against radiation-induced damages to normal tissues and can be proposed for mitigation of radiation injury. Emerging evidences have been shown to be in contrast to an old dogma in radiation biology; a major amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell toxicity occur during some hours to years after exposure to ionizing radiation. This can be attributed to upregulation of inflammatory and fibrosis mediators, epigenetic changes and disruption of the normal metabolism of oxygen. In the current review, we explain the cellular and molecular changes following exposure of normal tissues to ionizing radiation. Furthermore, we review potential targets that can be proposed for protection and mitigation of radiation toxicity.

保护正常组织免受电离辐射的毒性作用是临床和环境放射生物学中的一个关键问题。近几十年来的研究提出了一些潜在的目标，这些目标涉及保护正常组织免受辐射引起的损伤，并可用于减轻辐射损伤。新出现的证据已被证明与放射生物学中的旧教条形成鲜明对比。暴露于电离辐射后数小时至数年期间，会产生大量活性氧 (ROS) 和细胞毒性。这可归因于炎症和纤维化介质的上调、表观遗传变化以及正常氧代谢的破坏。在当前的综述中，我们解释了正常组织暴露于电离辐射后的细胞和分子变化。此外，我们还审查了可以提出的用于保护和减轻辐射毒性的潜在目标。