Dose-Dependent Metabolic Alterations in Human Cells Exposed to Gamma Irradiation

Abstract

Radiation exposure is a threat to public health because it causes many diseases, such as cancers and birth defects, due to genetic modification of cells. Compared with the past, a greater number of people are more frequently exposed to higher levels of radioactivity today, not least due to the increased use of diagnostic and therapeutic radiation-emitting devices. In this study, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS)-based metabolic profiling was used to investigate radiation- induced metabolic changes in human fibroblasts. After exposure to 1 and 5 Gy of γ-radiation, the irradiated fibroblasts were harvested at 24, 48, and 72 h and subjected to global metabolite profiling analysis. Mass spectral peaks of cell extracts were analyzed by pattern recognition using principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). The results showed that the cells irradiated with 1 Gy returned to control levels at 72 h post radiation, whereas cells irradiated with 5 Gy were quite unlike the controls; therefore, cells irradiated with 1 Gy had recovered, whereas those irradiated with 5 Gy had not. Lipid and amino acid levels increased after the higher-level radiation, indicating degradation of membranes and proteins. These results suggest that MS-based metabolite profiling of γ-radiation-exposed human cells provides insight into the global metabolic alterations in these cells.

Imaging of pH and pO2 gives insight in molecular processes of irradiated cells

“…Both cell types reacted with reduced proliferation upon irradiation. These results are in line with the findings of the proliferation assay and support both our and others′ previously published data of a diminished cell viability of fibroblasts …”

Investigation of relative metabolic changes in the organs and plasma of rats exposed to X‐ray radiation using HR‐MAS 1H NMR and solution 1H NMR

“…Similarly, o ‐phosphocholine decreased by more than 64% in the spleen and o ‐phosphoethanolamine decreased by more than 35% in the high‐dose radiation group. One study demonstrated that changes in the levels of phospholipid‐metabolism‐associated metabolites indicate ROS‐induced membrane damage caused by radiation . Total choline levels also change significantly as a result of changes in membrane choline phospholipid metabolism in response to increasing amounts of radiation .…”

Midgut cells alteration in gamma-irradiated beetles (Blaps polycresta, Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

“…Histological and ultrastructure examination in the present study were observed after 72 h from radiation exposure to quit cell's adaptive protection against an array of exogenous attack (Kwon et al, 2014). Our major observed anomalies in the midgut epithelium of B. polycresta were in the nucleus of both the regenerative and the digestive cells.…”