The central regulation of pain sensitivity in rats after irradiation with high doses of ionizing radiation

It was shown that during 24 h following whole-body exposure of male rats to gamma-quanta (150 Gy) the latent period of their response to the thermal effect increased a "tail-flick" test) and the threshold of the nociceptive response to an electric stimulus (the vocalization threshold) decreased. A correlation was found between the initial response to the nociceptive effects and variation of these values in irradiated animals.     

Synthesis of antibody by spleen cells after exposure to kiloroentgen doses of ionizing radiation

Mouse spleen cells in diffusion chambers were studied in an effort to assess the radiation survival curves of lymphoid cells during the different serological phases of immune response and to characterize morphologically and metabolically these radiation-resistant cells. The results showed that the capacity of immunocompetent progenitor cells to proliferate and differentiate into antibody-synthesizing cells was highly sensitive to x-irradiation. Their fully differentiated progenies, which were made up mainly of mature plasma cells, were resistant in that they were able to synthesize antibody effectively for as long as several days after their exposure to radiation doses up to 10,000 R. As a result of these studies, a method with a high recovery yield was devised for obtaining a highly purified preparation of dispersed monospecific antibody-synthesizing cells. This was done by simply exposing primed spleen cells to 10,000 R at the end of the log phase of response and harvesting the culture several days later.     

Rapid dicentric assay of human blood lymphocytes after exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation

The probability of losses of different chromosome aberrations during the dicentric chromosome assay of metaphase cells with incomplete sets of chromosome centromeres was estimated using a mathematical model for low doses of ionizing radiation. A dicentric assay of human blood lymphocytes without determination of the total amount of chromosome centromeres in cells without chromosome aberrations (rapid dicentric assay) has been proposed. The rapid dicentric analysis allows to register chromosome aberrations in full compliance with the conventional classification. The experimental data have shown no statistically significant difference between the frequencies of dicentric chromosomes detected by rapid and classical dicentric chromosome assays of human lymphocytes exposed to 0.5 Gy of 60Co gamma-rays. The rate of the rapid dicentric assay was almost twice as high as that of the classical dicentric assay.     

Gene expression profiles of normal human fibroblasts after exposure to ionizing radiation: a comparative study of low and high doses

Several types of cellular responses to ionizing radiation, such as the adaptive response or the bystander effect, suggest that low-dose radiation may possess characteristics that distinguish it from its high-dose counterpart. Accumulated evidence also implies that the biological effects of low-dose and high-dose ionizing radiation are not linearly distributed. We have investigated, for the first time, global gene expression changes induced by ionizing radiation at doses as low as 2 cGy and have compared this to expression changes at 4 Gy. We applied cDNA microarray analyses to G1-arrested normal human skin fibroblasts subjected to X irradiation. Our data suggest that both qualitative and quantitative differences exist between gene expression profiles induced by 2 cGy and 4 Gy. The predominant functional groups responding to low-dose radiation are those involved in cell-cell signaling, signal transduction, development and DNA damage responses. At high dose, the responding genes are involved in apoptosis and cell proliferation. Interestingly, several genes, such as cytoskeleton components ANLN and KRT15 and cell-cell signaling genes GRAP2 and GPR51, were found to respond to low-dose radiation but not to high-dose radiation. Pathways that are specifically activated by low-dose radiation were also evident. These quantitative and qualitative differences in gene expression changes may help explain the non-linear correlation of biological effects of ionizing radiation from low dose to high dose.     

Alteration of the enterohepatic recirculation of bile acids in rats after exposure to ionizing radiation

The aim of this work was to study acute alterations of the enterohepatic recirculation (EHR) of bile acids 3 days after an 8-Gy radiation exposure in vivo in the rat by a washout technique. Using this technique in association with HPLC analysis, the EHR of the major individual bile acids was determined in control and irradiated animals. Ex vivo ileal taurocholate absorption was also studied in Ussing chambers. Major hepatic enzyme activities involved in bile acid synthesis were also measured. Measurements of bile acid intestinal content and intestinal absorption efficiency calculation from washout showed reduced intestinal absorption with significant differences from one bile acid to another: absorption of taurocholate and tauromuricholate was decreased, whereas absorption of the more hydrophobic taurochenodeoxycholate was increased, suggesting that intestinal passive diffusion was enhanced, whereas ileal active transport might be reduced. Basal hepatic secretion was increased only for taurocholate, in accordance with the marked increase of CYP8B1 activity in the liver. The results are clearly demonstrate that concomitantly with radiation-induced intestinal bile acid malabsorption, hepatic bile acid synthesis and secretion are also changed. A current working model for pathophysiological changes in enterohepatic recycling after irradiation is thus proposed.     

Stress signaling between human lymphocytes after induction of bystander effect by exposure to ionizing radiation in adaptive doses

We previously reported that the consequence of human lymphocytes irradiation by the adaptive doses (X-rays, 10 cGy) was a transposition of the homologous chromosome loci in the cell nucleus (FISH method); this phenomenon was mediated by the increase of nucleolus activity. They both are transmited to non-irradiated cells by the bystander effect (BE). We shown that the reaction of stress signaling is induced by the DNA fragments of irradiated lymphocytes. The study shows that after the inhibition of caspase 3 activity in irradiating lymphocytes or the blockade TLR9 in bystander cells the transposition was not observed. A signaling way of BE from irradiated lymphocytes apoptosis to bystander cells receptors is discussing.     

Inter-individual variation in DNA double-strand break repair in human fibroblasts before and after exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation

DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) are generally considered the most critical lesion induced by ionizing radiation (IR) and may initiate carcinogenesis and other disease. Using an immunofluorescence assay to simultaneously detect nuclear foci of the phosphorylated forms of histone H2AX and ATM kinase at sites of DSBs, we examined the response of 25 apparently normal and 10 DNA repair-deficient (ATM, ATR, NBN, LIG1, LIG4, and FANCG) primary fibroblast strains irradiated with low doses of ¹³⁷Cs γ-rays. Quiescent G₀/G₁-phase cultures were exposed to 5, 10, and 25 cGy and allowed to repair for 24 h. The maximum level of IR-induced foci (0.15 foci per cGy, at 10 or 30 min) in the normal strains showed much less inter-individual variation (CV ≈ 0.2) than the level of spontaneous foci, which ranged from 0.2–2.6 foci/cell (CV ≈ 0.6; mean ± SD of 1.00 ± 0.57). Significantly slower focus formation post-irradiation was observed in seven normal strains, similar to most mutant strains examined. There was variation in repair efficiency measured by the fraction of IR-induced foci remaining 24 h post-irradiation, curiously with the strains having slower focus formation showing more efficient repair after 25 cGy. Interestingly, the ranges of spontaneous and residual induced foci levels at 24 h in the normal strains were as least as large as those observed for the repair-defective mutant strains. The inter-individual variation in DSB foci parameters observed in cells exposed to low doses of ionizing radiation in this small survey of apparently normal people suggests that hypomorphic genetic variants in genomic maintenance and/or DNA damage signaling and repair genes may contribute to differential susceptibility to cancer induced by environmental mutagens.     

Recovery of yeast cells after exposure to ionizing radiation and hyperthermia

Quantitative regularities of recovery of wild-type diploid yeast cells irradiated with gamma-rays (60Co) simultaneously with exposure to high temperatures were studied. It was shown that in conditions of such a combined action the constant of recovery did not depend on the temperature at which the irradiation was carried out. However, with an increase of acting temperature an augmentation in the portion of irreversible component was registered. The analysis of cell inactivation revealed that the augmentation of the irreversible component was accompanied by a continuous increase of cell killing without any postirradiation division after which cells are incapable of recovery. The reproductive death was mainly exerted after ionizing radiation applied alone while in conditions of simultaneous thermoradiation action the interphase killing (cell death without division) predominated. It is concluded on this base that the mechanism of synergistic interaction of ionizing radiation and hyperthermia may be related with cardinal change in mechanisms of cell killing.     

Carcinogenesis in laboratory mice after low doses of ionizing radiation

Experimental data on the incidence of solid tumors from various long-term mouse studies performed at the Casaccia laboratories over several years were reconsidered, limiting the analysis to the results available for doses equal to or less than 17 cGy of neutrons and 32 cGy of X rays since these dose limits are reasonably close to the generally accepted low-dose levels for high- and low-LET radiation (i.e. D(high-LET) < 5 cGy and D(low-LET) < 20 cGy, respectively). The following long-term experiments with BC3F1 mice were reviewed: (a) females treated with single doses of 1.5 MeV neutrons or 250 kVp X rays, (b) males treated with fractionated doses of fission neutrons, and (c) mice of both sexes irradiated in utero 17.5 days post coitus with single doses of fission neutrons or X rays. An experiment with CBA mice of both sexes treated with single doses of fission neutrons was also included in this study. Analysis was done on animals at risk; thus all incidences of tumor-bearing animals were expressed as the percentage excess incidence with respect to the controls. Ovarian tumors and other solid neoplasms were considered. The percentage frequencies and mean survival times of tumor-free mice were also recalculated. The results indicate the existence of a region at low doses where the final incidence of solid neoplasms is indistinguishable from the background incidence. These data reinforce the idea that at low doses the effectiveness of ionizing radiation in inducing solid neoplasms in laboratory mice is very low.     

Changes in metabolism of the nervous system in exposure to ionizing radiation at supralethal doses

Some biochemical disorders in the animals' central nervous system mainly in brain have been analysed after the exposure to superlethal doses of ionizing radiation as well in a state of the so-called early transient incapacity. The metabolism of gamma-aminobutyric acid, ammonia, histamine, cyclic nucleotides, prostaglandins and other biologically active substances is compared. Their investigation as metabolic regulators and modulators for nerve tissue seems to be of particular importance for deciphering the molecular mechanisms of changes in the central nervous system functional state and for discovering the possibility of its maintaining at a given level of activity.     

Early gene expression profile in mouse brain after exposure to ionizing radiation

Acute changes in the gene expression profile in mouse brain after exposure to ionizing radiation were studied using microarray analysis. RNA was isolated at 0.25, 1, 5 and 24 h after exposure to 20 Gy and at 5 h after exposure of the whole brain of adult mice to 2 or 10 Gy. RNA was hybridized onto 15K cDNA microarrays, and data were analyzed using GeneSpring and Significant Analysis of Microarray. Radiation modulated the expression of 128, 334, 325 and 155 genes and ESTs at 0.25, 1, 5 and 24 h after 20 Gy and 60 and 168 at 5 h after 2 and 10 Gy, respectively. The expression profiles showed dose- and time-dependent changes in both expression levels and numbers of differentially modulated genes and ESTs. Seventy-eight genes were modulated at two or more times. Differentially modulated genes were associated with 12 different classes of molecular function and 24 different biological pathways and showed time- and dose-dependent changes. The change in expression of four genes (Jak3, Dffb, Nsep1 and Terf1) after irradiation was validated using quantitative real-time PCR. Up-regulation of Jak3 was observed in another mouse strain. In mouse brain, there was an increase of Jak3 immunoreactivity after irradiation. In conclusion, changes in the gene profile in the brain after irradiation are complex and are dependent on time and dose, and genes with diverse functions and pathways are modulated.     

Dose-response relationship for parathyroid adenoma after exposure to ionizing radiation in infancy

Several authors have suggested that there is an excess risk of hyperparathyroidism, adenomas or hyperplasia after exposure to ionizing radiation. There is still, however, some uncertainty about this association, because these diseases are often asymptomatic and escape clinical detection if not specially searched for. This study is based on a pooled Swedish cohort of 27,925 persons with skin hemangiomas. The majority received radiation treatment in infancy between 1920 and 1965 in Stockholm and Gothenburg. The mean age at treatment was 6 months and the median thyroid dose was 0.20 Gy (range 0-28.5 Gy). Record linkage with the Swedish Cancer Register for the period 1958-1997 gave 43 cases of parathyroid adenoma in the cohort. Analyses of excess relative risk (ERR) models were performed using Poisson regression methods. Clinical records were scrutinized to determine if the childhood radiation exposure was known (biased cases) at the time of diagnosis. Seven of the cases of parathyroid adenoma were classified as biased cases. The standardized incidence ratio (SIR) was 2.10 (95% confidence interval 1.52-2.82) when all cases were included and 1.76 (95% CI 1.23-2.43) with the biased cases excluded. A linear dose-response model with stratification for sex fitted the data best. The ERR per gray was 3.84 (95% CI 1.56-8.99) with all cases and 1.56 (95% CI 0.36-4.45) with the biased cases excluded. There was a significant difference in the ERR per gray between the two subcohorts, probably because of different diagnostic activity in the regions. Our findings confirm that there is a dose-response relationship for radiation-induced parathyroid adenomas.     

T cell potentiation in normal and autoimmune-prone mice after extended exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation and/or caloric restriction

In order to better understand the apparent physiologic up-regulation in response to low levels of potentially lethal insults, murine T lymphocytes were analysed for functional and phenotypic alterations after exposure to 0.005 Gy/day, 0.01 Gy/day and 0.04 Gy/day in groups of ad-libitum-fed and calorie-restricted mice. These studies were conducted in two strains of mice: the long-lived and immunologically normal C57Bl/6 +/+ and the congenic short-lived immunologically depressed C57Bl/6 lpr/lpr. Whole-body exposure to 0.01 Gy/day and 0.04 Gy/day for an extended period of 20 days was associated with an increase in splenic proliferative response and with shifts in the proportions of T cell subpopulations in the thymus and spleen of both strains. Caloric restriction independently altered functional activity and T cell subpopulations in the same direction as low dose rates of ionizing radiation. Although the dose-response augmentation in proliferative activity was similar in the two strains, observed alterations in thymic and splenic T cell subpopulations were clearly different, suggesting that different mechanisms were responsible for immune enhancement in each strain.     

Early leukemia effect during chronic exposure to radiation with high doses

The preliminary results of the analysis of leukemia morbidity in the sub-cohort of workers from PA "Mayak" exposed with high (more than 4Gy) doses during relatively short time range (few years) have been obtained in terms of materials from the medical-dosimetry register (SUrIBPh). The earlier dynamics of the leukemia morbidity implementation (2-5 years after the beginning of exposure) was established for this sub-cohort, in contrast to that predicted on the base of examination of the cohort of atomic bombardment victims from Japan cities (LSS). The "'early" leukemia effect is connected with intensive cell death and has a threshold nature. It could be supposed, that intensification of born-marrow hematopoetics restricts a potential of reparation processes and leads to earlier (in contrast with that observed in the LSS cohort) implementation of carcinogenetic effect. Using propositions developed to describe the process of the creation of consecutive specific stable mutation in the target cells, the options is proposed of multistage model, which allows the prediction of post-radiation dynamics of leukemia morbidity intensity. Both data from LSS(DS86) and from the register for workers from PA "Mayak" were used to asses the model parameters. The satisfactory agreement is illustrated between the observed dynamics of leukemia morbidity and the model calculations.     

DNA strand breaks and DNA repair response in lymphocytes after chronic in vivo exposure to very low doses of ionizing radiation in mice

In contrast to the well-documented negative effects of high-dose oxidant exposure, accumulating evidence supports a positive, perhaps essential physiologic role for very low-level oxidant stress. For example, low-level oxidant exposure, within or below the physiologic range, has been reported to stimulate membrane signal transduction, proliferation, antioxidant defense and DNA repair. In the present study, we have examined whether whole-body exposure to low-dose radiation (LDR) results in an alteration in constitutive (steady state) levels of DNA-strand breaks and whether an adaptive increase in DNA-repair response is induced. C57B1/6J mice were exposed to 0.04 Gy (4 cGy) of gamma-radiation as a model of low level oxidant stress. End points measured after chronic in vivo LDR included: (1) constitutive expression of DNA-strand breaks in quiescent spleen cells; (2) sensitivity to DNA damage after high-dose radiation exposure in vitro; (3) repair of constitutive and radiation-induced DNA strand breaks after mitogen stimulation: (4) activity of the DNA-repair associated enzyme, poly(ADP-ribose)transferase (ADPRT) and its substrate, NAD. The results indicated that the constitutive expression of DNA-strand breaks is significantly decreased after chronic LDR; however, DNA-repair capacity after high-dose radiation exposure is not increased above that observed in sham-irradiated mice. Associated with the reduction in constitutive DNA-strand break accumulation was a decrease in resting levels of the DNA-repair-associated enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) transferase (ADPRT). These results are consistent with the interpretation that cumulative DNA damage and associated DNA-repair activity in unstimulated cells are both reduced after chronic LDR exposure.     

Immunochemical determination of DNA damage induced by high doses of ionizing radiation

It was shown by the immunochemical method that DNA of X-irradiated E. coli cells of a radiosensitive mutant ABA88uvr A6 can react with the antiserum to thymine dimers which, in all appearance, are induced by ionizing radiation in bacterial DNA. The number of thymine dimers in DNA of E. coli AB1886uvr A6 increased with the dose increase. No dimers were detected in radioresistant cells of M. radioproteolyticus probably due to the effective excision thereof.