Pomegranate Supplementation Improves Affective and Motor Behavior in Mice after Radiation Exposure

Abstract

Currently, NASA has plans for extended space travel, and previous research indicates that space radiation can have negative effects on cognitive skills as well as physical and mental health. With long-term space travel, astronauts will be exposed to greater radiation levels. Research shows that an antioxidant-enriched diet may offer some protection against the cellular effects of radiation and may provide significant neuroprotection from the effects of radiation-induced cognitive and behavioral skill deficits. Ninety-six C57BL/6 mice (48 pomegranate fed and 48 control) were irradiated with proton radiation (2 Gy), and two-month postradiation behaviors were assessed using a battery of behavioral tests to measure cognitive and motor functions. Proton irradiation was associated with depression-like behaviors in the tail suspension test, but this effect was ameliorated by the pomegranate diet. Males, in general, displayed worse coordination and balance than females on the rotarod task, and the pomegranate diet ameliorated this effect. Overall, it appears that proton irradiation, which may be encountered in space, may induce a different pattern of behavioral deficits in males than females and that a pomegranate diet may confer protection against some of those effects.

Protective effects of blueberry- and strawberry diets on neuronal stress following exposure to 56Fe particles

“…Supplementing diets high in antioxidants have shown to improve the excitatory post synaptic potentials (EPSP) and reversed the impairment of synaptic plasticity induced in dentate gyrus by neurotoxic agents (Karimi et al, 2013). Similarly, C57BL/6 mice maintained on an antioxidant rich pomegranate diet, and then exposed to proton radiation (2 Gy), had attenuating effects on depression-like symptoms (Dulcich and Hartman, 2013). Parallels can be drawn from the current results to suggest that the components of blueberry and strawberry diets, such as antioxidant polyphenols, anthocyanins, phenolic acids and many other bioactive components, synergistically reduce the pro-oxidant load in critical regions of the brain, at the same time up-regulating endogenous antioxidant defenses and activating autophagy.…”

High Dose Gamma Radiation Selectively Reduces GABAA-slow Inhibition

“…Some of the studies found adult neurogenesis was arrested completely after brain irradiation ranging from 3 Gy to 20 Gy; and behavioral as well as cognitive impairments were noted as well [13-16]. Some of these impairments include deficits in sensorimotor function [17], novel object recognition tasks [18], associative learning [19], and reversal learning [20]. Hippocampal-dependent spatial memory deficits may be related to a disruption in neurogenesis [13] that could contribute to longer-term effects.…”

A Single Low Dose of Proton Radiation Induces Long-Term Behavioral and Electrophysiological Changes in Mice

“…As a result, the authors suggested that proton radiation may not be as deleterious as HZE particles. Dulcich and Hartman also found no spatial learning and memory deficits in mice 2 months after exposure to a single 2 Gy dose (3). Another study observed no differences between control rats and those given 4 Gy proton radiation in a bar press task that assesses changes in reinforcement contingencies (4).…”