Space radiation does not induce a significant increase of intrachromosomal exchanges in astronauts’ lymphocytes
Abstract
Chromosome aberration analysis in astronauts has been used to provide direct, biologically motivated estimates of equivalent doses and risk associated to cosmic radiation exposure during space flight. However, the past studies concentrated on measurements of dicentrics and translocations, while chromosome intrachanges (inversions) have never been measured in astronauts' samples. Recent data reported in the literature suggest that densely ionizing radiation can induce a large fraction of intrachanges, thus leading to the suspicion that interchanges grossly underestimate the cosmic radiation-induced cytogenetic damage in astronauts. We have analyzed peripheral blood lymphocytes from 11 astronauts involved in short- or long-term space flights in low-Earth orbit using high-resolution multicolor banding to assess the frequency of intrachromosomal exchanges in both pre- and post-flight samples. We did not detect any inversions in chromosome 5 from a total of 2800 cells in astronauts' blood. In addition, no complex type exchanges were found in a total of 3590 astronauts' lymphocytes analyzed by multifluor fluorescence in situ hybridisation. We conclude that, within the statistical power of this study, the analysis of interchanges for biological dosimetry in astronauts does not significantly underestimate the space radiation-induced cytogenetic damage, and complex-type exchanges or intrachanges have limited practical use for biodosimetry at very low doses.
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Interpretation of studies on chromosomal aberrations in astronauts and cosmonauts is limited by significant individual variability and insufficient statistical power.
“However, interpretation of these studies is limited by significant individual variability and insufficient statistical power [37,38,39,40].”
From Space Radiation: The number one risk to astronaut health beyond low earth orbit (2014) · cites this paper as [40]
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- Authors
- Horstmann, M., Durante, M., Johannes, C., Pieper, R., & Obe, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Duisburg-Essen (DE)
- University of Naples Federico II (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Durante, M.
- ORCID
- Durante, M.
- Venue
- Radiation and Environmental Biophysics
- Published
- 2005-10-11
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 219-224
- ISSN
- 0301-634X (ISSN-L)
- 1432-2099
- OpenAlex
- W1977768506
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 2.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Radiation and Environmental Biophysics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Effects of Radiation Exposure
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Spaceflight effects on biology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Keywords
- space radiation, cosmic rays, astronauts, lymphocytes, chromosomal inversions, chromosomal abnormalities, biological dosimetry, low Earth orbit, chromosome 5, fluorescence in situ hybridization, radiation-induced chromosome damage
- MeSH terms
- Cells, Cultured, Chromosome Aberrations, Chromosomes, Cosmic Radiation, Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation, Humans, Lymphocytes, Radiation Dosage, Radiometry, Relative Biological Effectiveness, Space Flight, Astronauts
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