Purpose: Uncontrolled radiation exposure due to radiological terrorism, industrial accidents or military circumstances is a continuing threat for the civilian population. Age plays a major role in the susceptibility to radiation; younger children are at hi

We show that a natural behavior, exploration of a novel environment, causes DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in neurons of young adult wild-type mice. DSBs occurred in multiple brain regions, were most abundant in the dentate gyrus, which is involved in lea