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Life
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Space Radiobiology
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Space Radiobiology

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Radiobiology and Nuclear Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2022) | Viewed by 17553

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giorgio Russo

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Guest Editor
Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology (IBFM), National Research Council (CNR), 90015 Cefalù (PA), Italy
Interests: radiobiology; medical physics; radioprotection; biomedical imaging; cancer biology; tumor hypoxia; radiosensitizing agents; biomarkers; target therapies
Dr. Walter Tinganelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Biophysics Division, GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany
Interests: space biology; radiobiology; cancer biology; tumor hypoxia; flash radiotherapy; cell and molecular biology; human pathology and physiology; hibernation and synthetic torpor; target therapies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Marco Calvaruso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology (IBFM), Cefalù, PA, Italy
Interests: space biology; radiobiology; cancer biology; radiosensitizing agents; cell and molecular biology; tumor immunology; human pathology, immunotherapy; biomarkers; target therapies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

From the beginning of mankind, humans have always wondered about outer space and conquering it. The first answers to these questions arrived many years later, with the first human in space, launched in 1961, and with the following moon landing in 1969. Since then, the idea to leave our terrestrial shelters, to delve into space and colonize it, has become more and more concrete. However, space is an inhospitable place to explore, and it exposes human travellers to many challenges to their health. In the last 50 years, space biology has enriched the basic knowledge about the effects of space-radiation exposure and gravity unloading. However, the majority of studies have been aimed at the protection of astronauts flying in a low earth orbit (LEO), and they are based on an as yet limited amount of data collected from real space flight conditions or simulated ones.

The steady implementation of space transportation systems, and the future development of the Lunar Gateway, will inevitably lead astronauts to be involved in longer space missions that will be held beyond LEO. Therefore, a deeper elucidation of space-dependent effects related to health risks for the crew represents a major issue. In this context, future studies should not only be aimed at the prevention of health problems in space, but also at the management and resolution of pathological issues that may occur in an altered gravitational environment. It is important to note that these health risks both comprise those deriving from long-term radiation and microgravity exposure (cancer, immunological and neurological impairments, infections, muscle and bone loss, etc), together with those associated with isolation and confinement conditions (psychological problems). On the other hand, outputs coming from space biology research may be useful to ameliorate human life on Earth. 

On these bases, the role of space biology will be pivotal and functional in the future for the prediction, prevention, and management of diseases, and for the development of effective countermeasures to intervene promptly during space missions.

The main goal of this Special Issue is to collect multidisciplinary observations and provide new insights regarding space’s effects on biological systems in order to facilitate human permanence far from terrestrial orbit. Other topics of interest for this Special Issue will be the impact of space biology studies in improving life quality on Earth.

Dr. Marco Calvaruso
Dr. Giorgio Russo
Dr. Walter Tinganelli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • radiobiology
  • radioprotection
  • microgravity
  • space radiations
  • DNA damage
  • shielding materials

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1647 KiB  
Article
Heavy-Ion-Induced Lung Tumors: Dose- & LET-Dependence
by Polly Y. Chang, James Bakke, Chris J. Rosen, Kathleen A. Bjornstad, Jian-Hua Mao and Eleanor A. Blakely
Life 2022, 12(6), 907; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12060907 - 17 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2255
Abstract
There is a limited published literature reporting dose-dependent data for in vivo tumorigenesis prevalence in different organs of various rodent models after exposure to low, single doses of charged particle beams. The goal of this study is to reduce uncertainties in estimating particle-radiation-induced [...] Read more.
There is a limited published literature reporting dose-dependent data for in vivo tumorigenesis prevalence in different organs of various rodent models after exposure to low, single doses of charged particle beams. The goal of this study is to reduce uncertainties in estimating particle-radiation-induced risk of lung tumorigenesis for manned travel into deep space by improving our understanding of the high-LET-dependent dose-response from exposure to individual ion beams after low particle doses (0.03–0.80 Gy). Female CB6F1 mice were irradiated with low single doses of either oxygen, silicon, titanium, or iron ions at various energies to cover a range of dose-averaged LET values from 0.2–193 keV/µm, using 137Cs γ-rays as the reference radiation. Sham-treated controls were included in each individual experiment totally 398 animals across the 5 studies reported. Based on power calculations, between 40–156 mice were included in each of the treatment groups. Tumor prevalence at 16 months after radiation exposure was determined and compared to the age-matched, sham-treated animals. Results indicate that lung tumor prevalence is non-linear as a function of dose with suggestions of threshold doses depending on the LET of the beams. Histopathological evaluations of the tumors showed that the majority of tumors were benign bronchioloalveolar adenomas with occasional carcinomas or lymphosarcomas which may have resulted from metastases from other sites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Radiobiology)
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27 pages, 9665 KiB  
Article
Impact of Radiation Quality on Microdosimetry and Chromosome Aberrations for High-Energy (>250 MeV/n) Ions
by Floriane Poignant, Ianik Plante, Luis Crespo and Tony Slaba
Life 2022, 12(3), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12030358 - 1 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2502
Abstract
Studying energy deposition by space radiation at the cellular scale provides insights on health risks to astronauts. Using the Monte Carlo track structure code RITRACKS, and the chromosome aberrations code RITCARD, we performed a modeling study of single-ion energy deposition spectra and chromosome [...] Read more.
Studying energy deposition by space radiation at the cellular scale provides insights on health risks to astronauts. Using the Monte Carlo track structure code RITRACKS, and the chromosome aberrations code RITCARD, we performed a modeling study of single-ion energy deposition spectra and chromosome aberrations for high-energy (>250 MeV/n) ion beams with linear energy transfer (LET) varying from 0.22 to 149.2 keV/µm. The calculations were performed using cells irradiated directly by mono-energetic ion beams, and by poly-energetic beams after particle transport in a digital mouse model, representing the radiation exposure of a cell in a tissue. To discriminate events from ion tracks directly traversing the nucleus, to events from δ-electrons emitted by distant ion tracks, we categorized ion contributions to microdosimetry or chromosome aberrations into direct and indirect contributions, respectively. The ions were either ions of the mono-energetic beam or secondary ions created in the digital mouse due to interaction of the beam with tissues. For microdosimetry, the indirect contribution is largely independent of the beam LET and minimally impacted by the beam interactions in mice. In contrast, the direct contribution is strongly dependent on the beam LET and shows increased probabilities of having low and high-energy deposition events when considering beam transport. Regarding chromosome aberrations, the indirect contribution induces a small number of simple exchanges, and a negligible number of complex exchanges. The direct contribution is responsible for most simple and complex exchanges. The complex exchanges are significantly increased for some low-LET ion beams when considering beam transport. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Radiobiology)
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18 pages, 3743 KiB  
Article
Response of Arabidopsis thaliana and Mizuna Mustard Seeds to Simulated Space Radiation Exposures
by Ye Zhang, Jeffrey T. Richards, Alan H. Feiveson, Stephanie E. Richards, Srujana Neelam, Thomas W. Dreschel, Ianik Plante, Megumi Hada, Honglu Wu, Gioia D. Massa, Grace L. Douglas and Howard G. Levine
Life 2022, 12(2), 144; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12020144 - 19 Jan 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3564
Abstract
One of the major concerns for long-term exploration missions beyond the Earth’s magnetosphere is consequences from exposures to solar particle event (SPE) protons and galactic cosmic rays (GCR). For long-term crewed Lunar and Mars explorations, the production of fresh food in space will [...] Read more.
One of the major concerns for long-term exploration missions beyond the Earth’s magnetosphere is consequences from exposures to solar particle event (SPE) protons and galactic cosmic rays (GCR). For long-term crewed Lunar and Mars explorations, the production of fresh food in space will provide both nutritional supplements and psychological benefits to the astronauts. However, the effects of space radiation on plants and plant propagules have not been sufficiently investigated and characterized. In this study, we evaluated the effect of two different compositions of charged particles-simulated GCR, and simulated SPE protons on dry and hydrated seeds of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the crop plant Mizuna mustard [Brassica rapa var. japonica]. Exposures to charged particles, simulated GCRs (up to 80 cGy) or SPEs (up to 200 cGy), were performed either acutely or at a low dose rate using the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) facility at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). Control and irradiated seeds were planted in a solid phytogel and grown in a controlled environment. Five to seven days after planting, morphological parameters were measured to evaluate radiation-induced damage in the seedlings. After exposure to single types of charged particles, as well as to simulated GCR, the hydrated Arabidopsis seeds showed dose- and quality-dependent responses, with heavier ions causing more severe defects. Seeds exposed to simulated GCR (dry seeds) and SPE (hydrated seeds) had significant, although much less damage than seeds exposed to heavier and higher linear energy transfer (LET) particles. In general, the extent of damage depends on the seed type. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Radiobiology)
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18 pages, 4007 KiB  
Article
Biological and Mechanical Characterization of the Random Positioning Machine (RPM) for Microgravity Simulations
by Marco Calvaruso, Carmelo Militello, Luigi Minafra, Veronica La Regina, Filippo Torrisi, Gaia Pucci, Francesco P. Cammarata, Valentina Bravatà, Giusi I. Forte and Giorgio Russo
Life 2021, 11(11), 1190; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11111190 - 5 Nov 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2700
Abstract
The rapid improvement of space technologies is leading to the continuous increase of space missions that will soon bring humans back to the Moon and, in the coming future, toward longer interplanetary missions such as the one to Mars. The idea of living [...] Read more.
The rapid improvement of space technologies is leading to the continuous increase of space missions that will soon bring humans back to the Moon and, in the coming future, toward longer interplanetary missions such as the one to Mars. The idea of living in space is charming and fascinating; however, the space environment is a harsh place to host human life and exposes the crew to many physical challenges. The absence of gravity experienced in space affects many aspects of human biology and can be reproduced in vitro with the help of microgravity simulators. Simulated microgravity (s-μg) is applied in many fields of research, ranging from cell biology to physics, including cancer biology. In our study, we aimed to characterize, at the biological and mechanical level, a Random Positioning Machine in order to simulate microgravity in an in vitro model of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). We investigated the effects played by s-μg by analyzing the change of expression of some genes that drive proliferation, survival, cell death, cancer stemness, and metastasis in the human MDA-MB-231 cell line. Besides the mechanical verification of the RPM used in our studies, our biological findings highlighted the impact of s-μg and its putative involvement in cancer progression. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Radiobiology)
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15 pages, 3667 KiB  
Article
Track Structure Components: Characterizing Energy Deposited in Spherical Cells from Direct and Peripheral HZE Ion Hits
by Ianik Plante, Floriane Poignant and Tony Slaba
Life 2021, 11(11), 1112; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11111112 - 20 Oct 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2188
Abstract
To understand the biological effects of radiation, it is important to determine how ionizing radiation deposits energy in micrometric targets. The energy deposited in a target located in an irradiated tissue is a function of several factors such as the radiation type and [...] Read more.
To understand the biological effects of radiation, it is important to determine how ionizing radiation deposits energy in micrometric targets. The energy deposited in a target located in an irradiated tissue is a function of several factors such as the radiation type and the irradiated volume size. We simulated the energy deposited by energetic ions in spherical targets of 1, 2, 4, and 8 µm radii encompassed in irradiated parallelepiped volumes of various sizes using the stochastic radiation track structure code Relativistic Ion Tracks (RITRACKS). Because cells are usually part of a tissue when they are irradiated, electrons originating from radiation tracks in neighboring volumes also contribute to energy deposition in the target. To account for this contribution, we used periodic boundary conditions in the simulations. We found that the single-ion spectra of energy deposition in targets comprises two components: the direct ion hits to the targets, which is identical in all irradiation conditions, and the contribution of hits from electrons from neighboring volumes, which depends on the irradiated volume. We also calculated an analytical expression of the indirect hit contributions using the local effect model, which showed results similar to those obtained with RITRACKS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Radiobiology)
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14 pages, 3001 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Ocular Response in the Retina and Optic Nerve Head after Single and Fractionated High-Energy Protons
by Xiao-Wen Mao, Seta Stanbouly, Tamako Jones and Gregory Nelson
Life 2021, 11(8), 849; https://doi.org/10.3390/life11080849 - 19 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2452
Abstract
There are serious concerns about possible late radiation damage to ocular tissue from prolonged space radiation exposure, and occupational and medical procedures. This study aimed to investigate the effects of whole-body high-energy proton exposure at a single dose on apoptosis, oxidative stress, and [...] Read more.
There are serious concerns about possible late radiation damage to ocular tissue from prolonged space radiation exposure, and occupational and medical procedures. This study aimed to investigate the effects of whole-body high-energy proton exposure at a single dose on apoptosis, oxidative stress, and blood-retina barrier (BRB) integrity in the retina and optic nerve head (ONH) region and to compare these radiation-induced effects with those produced by fractionated dose. Six-month-old C57BL/6 male mice were either sham irradiated or received whole-body high energy proton irradiation at an acute single dose of 0.5 Gy or 12 equal dose fractions for a total dose of 0.5 Gy over twenty-five days. At four months following irradiation, mice were euthanized and ocular tissues were collected for histochemical analysis. Significant increases in the number of apoptotic cells were documented in the mouse retinas and ONHs that received proton radiation with a single or fractionated dose (p < 0.05). Immunochemical analysis revealed enhanced immunoreactivity for oxidative biomarker, 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) in the retina and ONH following single or fractionated protons with more pronounced changes observed with a single dose of 0.5 Gy. BRB integrity was also evaluated with biomarkers of aquaporin-4 (AQP-4), a water channel protein, a tight junction (TJ) protein, Zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), and an adhesion molecule, the platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1). A significantly increased expression of AQP-4 was observed in the retina following a single dose exposure compared to controls. There was also a significant increase in the expression of PECAM-1 and a decrease in the expression of ZO-1 in the retina. These changes give a strong indication of disturbance to BRB integrity in the retina. Interestingly, there was very limited immunoreactivity of AQP-4 and ZO-1 seen in the ONH region, pointing to possible lack of BRB properties as previously reported. Our data demonstrated that exposure to proton radiation of 0.5 Gy induced oxidative stress-associated apoptosis in the retina and ONH, and changes in BRB integrity in the retina. Our study also revealed the differences in BRB biomarker distribution between these two regions. In response to radiation insults, the cellular response in the retina and ONH may be differentially regulated in acute or hyperfractionated dose schedules. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Radiobiology)
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