Sex-Specific Cognitive Deficits Following Space Radiation Exposure

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
Vipan K PariharCharles L Limoli

Abstract

The radiation fields in space define tangible risks to the health of astronauts, and significant work in rodent models has clearly shown a variety of exposure paradigms to compromise central nervous system (CNS) functionality. Despite our current knowledge, sex differences regarding the risks of space radiation exposure on cognitive function remain poorly understood, which is potentially problematic given that 30% of astronauts are women. While work from us and others have demonstrated pronounced cognitive decrements in male mice exposed to charged particle irradiation, here we show that female mice exhibit significant resistance to adverse neurocognitive effects of space radiation. The present findings indicate that male mice exposed to low doses (≤30 cGy) of energetic (400 MeV/n) helium ions (4He) show significantly higher levels of neuroinflammation and more extensive cognitive deficits than females. Twelve weeks following 4He ion exposure, irradiated male mice demonstrated significant deficits in object and place recognition memory accompanied by activation of microglia, marked upregulation of hippocampal Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and increased expression of the pro-inflammatory marker high mobility group box 1 protein (...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 27, 2021·International Journal of Radiation Biology·Nicole E MartinezRichard W Leggett
Jun 16, 2021·International Journal of Radiation Biology·Marjan BoermaJacqueline P Williams
Jul 25, 2021·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Alyssa TidmoreRichard A Britten

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
confocal microscopy
transgenic

Software Mentioned

GraphPad
Imaris
GraphPad Prism

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