Are biological effects of space radiation really altered under the microgravity environment?

Yatagai, Fumio; Ishioka, Noriaki

doi:10.1016/j.lssr.2014.09.005

Cited by 33 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…The average dose rate measured at the ISS is ∼0.5 mSv/day, roughly 100-fold higher than that measured on Earth (20). Ground-based studies have demonstrated the deleterious effects of radiation on living organisms, including the induction of mutations and tumor formation (21,22). Humans living for several generations in space habitats or traveling to Mars will encounter much higher cosmic radiation, possibly putting them at high risk for cancer (23).…”

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confidence: 99%

Healthy offspring from freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa held on the International Space Station for 9 months

Wakayama

Kamada

Yamanaka

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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If humans ever start to live permanently in space, assisted reproductive technology using preserved spermatozoa will be important for producing offspring; however, radiation on the International Space Station (ISS) is more than 100 times stronger than that on Earth, and irradiation causes DNA damage in cells and gametes.Here we examined the effect of space radiation on freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa held on the ISS for 9 mo at -95°C, with launch and recovery at room temperature. DNA damage to the spermatozoa and male pronuclei was slightly increased, but the fertilization and birth rates were similar to those of controls. Nextgeneration sequencing showed only minor genomic differences between offspring derived from space-preserved spermatozoa and controls, and all offspring grew to adulthood and had normal fertility. Thus, we demonstrate that although space radiation can damage sperm DNA, it does not affect the production of viable offspring after at least 9 mo of storage on the ISS.International Space Station | preservation | freeze-dry | spermatozoa | fertilization S ince the "space dog" Laika (Лайка) was first placed into orbit in 1957 (1), many humans and animals have been to space or stayed on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than 6 mo. In the future, humans likely will live on largescale space stations or in other space habitats for several years or even over many generations. At that time, assisted reproductive technology (ART) likely will be used to produce humans in space habitats, given that the use of ART by infertile couples has increased year by year and that ART can be performed with cryopreserved spermatozoa or embryos (2, 3). In a similar way, domestic animals likely will be generated by artificial insemination (AI) in space, because many domestic animals are already produced by AI using long-term cryopreserved spermatozoa (4). In addition, genetic diversity is very important for maintaining a species, especially in small colonies, and this could be achieved by cryopreserving a diverse range of gamete cells. The environment in space is very different from that on Earth, however, including high levels of space radiation and microgravity, and the effects of these factors on mammalian reproduction are largely unknown. Although with current technology, producing offspring in such an environment can be difficult or dangerous (5), the study of reproduction in space is a very important subject for our future.So far, the effects of microgravity on early development have been studied using sea urchins, fish, amphibians, and birds (6-12). These studies have concluded that microgravity does not prevent animal reproduction. However, because of the difficulty in maintaining mammals and performing experiments in space, studies of mammal reproduction in space have not progressed as well as in other animals, and only a few papers have been published (13-18). Those studies and our previous study (19) have suggested that mammalian reproduction in space under conditions of microgravity cannot be easil...

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confidence: 99%

Healthy offspring from freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa held on the International Space Station for 9 months

Wakayama

Kamada

Yamanaka

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Therefore, COX-2 can be used as a molecular marker of high-LET heavy-ion-induced bystander cells, although this may depend on the time after irradiation. In space environments, astronauts are affected by both space radiation and microgravity, and thus it is possible that the low fluence of high-LET heavy ions may modify the effect of microgravity, as discussed by Yatagai and Ishioka (2014). Therefore, it will be necessary to obtain a better understanding of the biological effects associated with both high-LET heavy ions and microgravity to evaluate the human health risks of space environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Astronauts in space are affected constantly by radiation and microgravity (Yatagai and Ishioka, 2014). Space radiation includes protons, heavy ions with high charge and energy, and secondary radiation, including neutrons and the recoil nuclei generated from reactions with spacecraft walls or within tissues (Cucinotta and Durante, 2006;Cucinotta et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the space environment, it is also important to evaluate the biological effects induced by low fluence in low fluence-rate irradiation conditions to accurately estimate the human health risk (Held, 2009;Yatagai and Ishioka, 2014). The heterogeneity of the absorbed dose within the irradiated tissues or cells is more relevant for high-LET heavy ions than for low-LET photons because the absorbed dose per single hit (one nucleus traversal) in the former case is much greater than that in the latter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nitric oxide-mediated bystander signal transduction induced by heavy-ion microbeam irradiation

Tomita

Matsumoto

Funayama

et al. 2015

Life Sciences in Space Research

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“…Radiation hazards are a matter of serious concern for future long lasting space and planetary missions (Kennedy, 2014;Yatagai and Ishioka, 2014). Moreover, the ability of life forms to withstand genotoxic effects of space radiation is a key problem in astrobiology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A protective role of HSP90 chaperone in gamma-irradiated Arabidopsis thaliana seeds

Kozeko¹,

Talalaiev²,

Neimash

et al. 2015

Life Sciences in Space Research

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Are biological effects of space radiation really altered under the microgravity environment?

Cited by 33 publications

References 71 publications

Healthy offspring from freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa held on the International Space Station for 9 months

Healthy offspring from freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa held on the International Space Station for 9 months

Nitric oxide-mediated bystander signal transduction induced by heavy-ion microbeam irradiation

A protective role of HSP90 chaperone in gamma-irradiated Arabidopsis thaliana seeds

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