The REPAIR Project: Examining the Biological Impacts of Sub-Background Radiation Exposure within SNOLAB, a Deep Underground Laboratory

Thome, Christopher; Tharmalingam, Sujeenthar; Pirkkanen, Jake; Zarnke, Andrew M.; Laframboise, Taylor; Boreham, Douglas R.

doi:10.1667/rr14654.1

Cited by 25 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Several studies performed on unicellular systems, including bacteria, yeast and mammalian cultured cells, have already shown that cell physiology is indeed influenced at different levels by deprivation of normal radiation background. The determination of whether low-radiation background could affect life and development of multicellular and complex organisms remains a highpriority task in most underground laboratory agendas (4,11,36,63). At the LNGS we have successfully started to address this complex question using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fruit Flies Provide New Insights in Low-Radiation Background Biology at the INFN Underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS)

et al. 2018

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Deep underground laboratories (DULs) were originally created to host particle, astroparticle or nuclear physics experiments requiring a low-background environment with vastly reduced levels of cosmic-ray particle interference. More recently, the range of science projects requiring an underground experiment site has greatly expanded, thus leading to the recognition of DULs as truly multidisciplinary science sites that host important studies in several fields, including geology, geophysics, climate and environmental sciences, technology/instrumentation development and biology. So far, underground biology experiments are ongoing or planned in a few of the currently operating DULs. Among these DULs is the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), where the majority of radiobiological data have been collected. Here we provide a summary of the current scenario of DULs around the world, as well as the specific features of the LNGS and a summary of the results we obtained so far, together with other findings collected in different underground laboratories. In particular, we focus on the recent results from our studies of Drosophila melanogaster, which provide the first evidence of the influence of the radiation environment on life span, fertility and response to genotoxic stress at the organism level. Given the increasing interest in this field and the establishment of new projects, it is possible that in the near future more DULs will serve as sites of radiobiology experiments, thus providing further relevant biological information at extremely low-dose-rate radiation. Underground experiments can be nicely complemented with above-ground studies at increasing dose rate. A systematic study performed in different exposure scenarios provides a potential opportunity to address important radiation protection questions, such as the dose/dose-rate relationship for cancer and non-cancer risk, the possible existence of dose/dose-rate threshold(s) for different biological systems and/or end points and the possible role of radiation quality in triggering the biological response.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…cern.ch/event/436589/). The increasing interest in this field and the establishment of new projects, such as the REPAIR Project at SNOLAB (36,37), will have a significant effect on both basic knowledge and applied research.…”

Section: Deep Underground Laboratories Around the World: The Most Effmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fruit Flies Provide New Insights in Low-Radiation Background Biology at the INFN Underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS)

et al. 2018

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“…Within the framework of ionizing radiation exposures were the dramatic findings of Azzam et al [ 21 ] that very low doses of radiation had the capacity to upregulate DNA repair processes leading to a significantly lower amount of mutational damage than found in the normal controls, thereby suggesting the existence of an hormetic-biphasic dose response. Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that removal of background radiation from the environment of various experimental models leads to striking degradations of health status, which is reversible with the reinstituting of the background radiation [ 22 , 23 ].…”

Section: Dose Response In Historical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hormesis: Path and Progression to Significance

Calabrese

2018

IJMS

176

127

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This paper tells the story of how hormesis became recognized as a fundamental concept in biology, affecting toxicology, microbiology, medicine, public health, agriculture, and all areas related to enhancing biological performance. This paper assesses how hormesis enhances resilience to normal aging and protects against a broad spectrum of neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, and other diseases, as well as trauma and other threats to health and well-being. This paper also explains the application of hormesis to several neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, macrophage polarization and its systematic adaptive protections, and the role of hormesis in enhancing stem cell functioning and medical applications.

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“…We speculate that reduced cosmic ray muons flux inhibited V79 cell proliferation in the DUGL at the CJEM. The rock cover over the DUGL provides shielding equivalent to 4,000 m of water, which almost completely eliminates cosmic radiation [19]. Cells have evolved mechanisms for rapidly adjusting their biochemistry in response to changes in the environment, including radiation [22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proteomics provides insights into the inhibition of Chinese hamster V79 cell proliferation in the deep underground environment

Liu

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: To characterize the environment of deep underground laboratory (DUGL) with a rock cover of 1470m and observe the effect of the DUGL environment on the growth and metabolism of Chinese hamster V79 cells. Results: Six environmental parameters in the DUGL and an above ground laboratory (AGL; control) were monitored. Compared to the AGL, O2 concentration was not significantly different, total γ ray dose rate was significantly lower (p=0.005), and relative humidity (p<0.001), air pressure (p<0.001), and concentration of CO2 and radon gas (p<0.001) were significantly higher in the DUGL. The growth curves of cultured V79 cells showed cell proliferation was slower in the DUGL. Tandem mass tag (TMT) proteomics analysis was performed to identify differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) in V79 cells cultured in the DUGL and AGL. Parallel Reaction Monitoring (PRM) was conducted to verify TMT results. TMT detected 980 DAPs, defined as proteins with a ≥1.2-absolute fold change in relative abundance (p <0.05) between V79 cells cultured in the DUGL and AGL. Of these, 576 proteins were up-regulated and 404 proteins were down-regulated in V79 cells cultured in the DUGL. GO term enrichment analysis of up-regulated proteins revealed enrichment of proteins involved in translation, ribosome, proton-transporting ATP synthase activity, oxygen binding, and oxygen transporter activity et al. GO term enrichment analysis of downregulated proteins demonstrated enrichment of proteins involved in the endoplasmic reticulum lumenand respiratory chain. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that ribosome (p<0.001), base excision repair (p<0.001), RNA transport (p=0.009), Huntington's disease (p=0.023), and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPPL) (p=0.035) pathways were significantly enriched. Conclusion: Proliferation of V79 cells was inhibited in the DUGL, likely because cells were exposed to reduced cosmic ray muons flux. There were apparent changes in the proteome profile of the V79 cells cultured in the DUGL, which affected proteins related to the ribosome, RNA transport, translation, energy metabolism, and DNA repair.These proteins may have induced cellular changes that delayed proliferation but enhanced survival, making the V79 cells adaptable to the changing environment. Our findings provide insight into the cellular stress response that is triggered in the absence of normal levels of radiation.

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The REPAIR Project: Examining the Biological Impacts of Sub-Background Radiation Exposure within SNOLAB, a Deep Underground Laboratory

Cited by 25 publications

References 40 publications

Fruit Flies Provide New Insights in Low-Radiation Background Biology at the INFN Underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS)

Fruit Flies Provide New Insights in Low-Radiation Background Biology at the INFN Underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS)

Hormesis: Path and Progression to Significance

Proteomics provides insights into the inhibition of Chinese hamster V79 cell proliferation in the deep underground environment

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