Analysis of the Effect of Space Radiations on the Nematode, <i> Caenorhabditis elegans </i>, through the Simulated Space Radiation

Abstract

In this study, we simulated space flight of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, on the ground and examined how it is affected by space radiation and G-forces. We simulated G-forces during launch in a gravity acceleration laboratory device in order to identify and isolate the effects of the G-forces. Following this, we irradiated C. elegans with accelerated protons (MC-50 Cyclotron) and gamma rays (iR 222 machine) at the same physical dose. We calculated the expected radiation dose according to Reitz [1] and simulation programs (NASA AP8MIN [2], NASA AE8MAX [2], and CREAM86 [3]) for 1 month (dose rate: 6 × 10 −3 Gy; 2.8 × 10 −2 Gy), 6 months (dose rate: 36 × 10 −3 Gy; 16.8 × 10 −2 Gy), and 2 years (dose rate: 144 × 10 −3 Gy; 67.2 × 10 −2 Gy) of space flight. There have been several trials that aimed to take C. elegans into orbit on US space shuttle missions including a mission on the shuttle Columbia. In this study, we simulated longer duration space flights and performed a whole-genome microarray analysis to observe phenotype variations whereas most such experiments were carried out during short duration space flights and focused on mutations and genotypic variations. We expect that the results of this study will be useful to predict the effects of long-term exposure of space radiation on living organisms.

Changes in apoptotic microRNA and mRNA expression profiling inCaenorhabditis elegansduring the Shenzhou-8 mission

“…It is speculated that these changes on apoptosis result from interaction of environmental factors and genetic factors. Ground-based study has shown that apoptosis is reduced by protons but induced by γ-rays at the gene expression level during long-term spaceflight [ 76 ], indicating that the composition of complex types of space radiation may contribute to the perturbation of apoptosis. Environmentally, although the dose of space radiation is relative low in our study, the effect of space radiation can't be denied, because space radiation has been proven to induce obvious effects, even though the dose is three orders of magnitude lower than that of ground-based simulation [ 36 ].…”

Review of Biological Effects of Acute and Chronic Radiation Exposure on Caenorhabditis elegans

“…Besides the space-based experiments, numerous simulated ground-based radiation tests demonstrated the same changes observed during exposure in space. Yi et al performed a ground simulation on C. elegans where they simulated a long-duration flight and analyzed the effect of space radiation and gravitational force (G-force) on C. elegans [64]. In their experiment, they exposed C. elegans to accelerated protons and gamma rays with an equivalent dose.…”

“…Dubois et al, 2019 [71] X-ray (600C/D linear accelerator) 0 gray [64], 200 Gy, and 400 Gy (not specified)…”

MEMS Tunable Diffraction Grating for Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopic Applications

“…In general, for a satellite assignment there are three levels of shock that are experienced: launching, separation from the rocket, and landing. Typical shock values experienced by previously reported missions are 4.5 G for the Russian Soyuz vehicle [ 32 ] and 3 G for NASA Space Shuttle [ 33 ]. To measure the level of shock, a finite element simulation (ANSYS 17.2) was performed with different shock levels.…”