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PubMed2005

Radiation measurement on the International Space Station.

The results of an investigation of radiation environment on board the ISS with apogee/perigee of 420/380 km and inclination 51.6 degrees are presented. For measurement of important characteristics of cosmic rays (particles fluxes, LET spectrum, equivalent doses and heavy ions with Z > or = 2) a nuclear photographic emulsion as a controllable threshold detector was used. The use of this detector permits a registration of the LET spectrum of charged particles within wide range of dE/dx and during the last years it has already been successfully used on board the MIR station, Space Shuttles and "Kosmos" spacecrafts. An integral LET spectrum was measured in the range 0.5-2.2 x 10(3) keV/micrometers and the value of equivalent dose 360 microSv/day was estimated. The flux of biologically dangerous heavy particles with Z > or = 2 was measured (3.85 x 10(3) particles/cm2).

Beryllium↗
PubMed1984

Quantitation of heavy ion damage to the mammalian brain: some preliminary findings.

Histological preparations of brains from rabbits and mice exposed to different doses of various HZE particles or to low-LET photons have been subjected to preliminary quantitation of radiation-induced morphometric changes. Computer assisted measurements of several brain structures and cell types have been made using the KONTRON Automated Interactive Measurement System (IBAS, Carl Zeiss, Inc., Thornwood, N.Y. 10594 U.S.A.). New Zealand white rabbits irradiated at approximately 6 weeks of age were euthanatized 6.5-25 months after exposure to 60Co gamma photons (LET infinity = approximately 0.3 keV/micrometer, 20Ne particles (LET infinity = 35 +/- 3 keV/micrometer), or 40Ar particles (LET infinity = 90 +/- 5 keV/micrometer). Measurements of stained sections of the olfactory bulbs of those animals indicate that the mean size (volume) of olfactory glomeruli is reduced in a dose-dependent (and perhaps an LET-dependent) manner as soon as 6.5 months after irradiation. Differences between mean volumes of additional structures have been noted when histological preparations of control mouse brains were compared with irradiated specimens. Quantitation of intermediate and late changes in nervous (and other) tissues exposed to low- and high-LET radiations will improve our ability to predict late effects in tissues of astronauts and others exposed to the radiation hazards of the space environment.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

An inductive assessment of radiation risks in space.

Procedures for the assessment of risks or vulnerabilities from radiation in space are evaluated in terms of model-independent inductive approaches. The reliability of risks calculated for space applications on the basis of accelerator-based physical and biological data is examined from a microdosimetric perspective. Probability distributions for energy deposition in biologically significant sites extend over several decades in lineal energy even for monoenergetic high-energy particles of relatively high atomic number. Because the response depends on a large number of variables and because of the difficulty of incorporating all such factors into calculations, a precise correlation between a physical descriptor of the field and observed effects in space is not feasible. For the same reasons, it is equally difficult to estimate the accuracies of such risk assessments. We use recently published microdosimetric spectra for HZE particles and biological weighting functions, including those derived from biological measurements with maximum entropy techniques, to illustrate some problems associated with the evaluations of risks from radiation fields in space.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Commentary 2 to Cox and Little: radiation-induced oncogenic transformation: the interplay between dose, dose protraction, and radiation quality.

There is now a substantial body of evidence for end points such as oncogenic transformation in vitro, and carcinogenesis and life shortening in vivo, suggesting that dose protraction leads to an increase in effectiveness relative to a single, acute exposure--at least for radiations of medium linear energy transfer (LET) such as neutrons. Table I contains a summary of the pertinent data from studies in which the effect is seen. [table: see text] This phenomenon has come to be known as the "inverse dose rate effect," because it is in marked contrast to the situation at low LET, where protraction in delivery of a dose of radiation, either by fractionation or low dose rate, results in a decreased biological effect; additionally, at medium and high LET, for radiobiological end points such as clonogenic survival, the biological effectiveness is independent of protraction. The quantity and quality of the published reports on the "inverse dose rate effect" leaves little doubt that the effect is real, but the available evidence indicates that the magnitude of the effect is due to a complex interplay between dose, dose rate, and radiation quality. Here, we first summarize the available data on the inverse dose rate effect and suggest that it follows a consistent pattern in regard to dose, dose rate, and radiation quality; second, we describe a model that predicts these features; and, finally, we describe the significance of the effect for radiation protection.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Modeling the response of thermoluminescence detectors exposed to low- and high-LET radiation fields.

Lithium fluoride thermoluminescence (TL) detectors, with different Li composition (Li-6 and Li-7) and various activators (LiF:Mg,Ti, LiF:Mg,Cu,P), are widely used for dosimetry in space. The primary radiation field in space is composed of fast electrons, protons and heavy charged particles (HCP). By its interaction with the structures of the spacecraft, this field may be modified inside the crew cabin. Therefore, calibration of TL detectors against a dose of gamma-rays is not sufficient for relating the TL readout to absorbed dose or to quantities relevant in radiation protection, without suitable correction. We introduce and calculate the detection efficiency, eta, relative to gamma-ray dose, of lithium fluoride detectors after proton and heavy charged particle (HCP) irradiation. We calculate eta for MCP-N (LiF:Mg,Cu,P) and for MTS-N (LiF:Mg,Ti) using microdosimetric models. The microdosimetric distributions used in these models (for HCP of charges between Z=1 to Z=8 and in the energy range between 0.3 MeV/amu and 20 MeV/amu) are calculated using an analytical model, based on the results of Monte Carlo simulated charged particle tracks using the MOCA-14 code. The ratio etaMCP-N/etaMTS-N for protons of stopping power (in water) below 10 keV/microm lies in the range between 0.65 and 1.0 and for HCP with Z>1--between 0.3 and 0.6. The stopping power of the particle is found not to be a unique parameter to scale the response of TL detectors. The combination of response of LiF:Mg,Cu,P and LiF:Mg,Cu,P detectors can be more suitable for a dose correction in space radiation fields.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed1999

[The methodology of establishing the radiation hazard to cosmonauts on long-term mission based on the generalized dosimetric functional].

The paper describes an original methodology for evaluation of the radiation hazard to cosmonauts on mission based on generalized dose from ionizing radiations. This is a new dosimetric functional that allows convert the complex radiation of space to standard radiation. The conversion is achieved by calculation of mean tissue equivalent doses from each source of radiation hazard in space flight and scaling factors which take into account the radiobiological effect of intricate macrospatial and temporal dose distributions along the human body. Besides, consideration is given for the impact of non-radiation factors inherent to space flight. The generalized dose which is the dose from standard radiation inducing radiation damage similar to the multicomponent space radiation can be used to ascertain the character and degree of performance degradation, and radiation risk for cosmonauts both in and long after mission.

Cosmic Radiation↗
PubMed2002

Space life sciences: biological research and space radiation. Proceedings of the F1.2, F1.3, F2.2 and F2.6 Symposia of COSPAR Scientific Commission F which were held during the Thirty-third COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Warsaw, Poland, July, 2000.

This issue of Advances in Space Research contains a large number of manuscripts in the discipline of Space Life Sciences including papers from the following sessions of the Warsaw COSPAR Assembly: Gravity-related research with animals--past, present, future; The nervous system: space flight environmental factors effects--present results and new perspectives; Investigating space radiation effects at particle accelerators--biology and physics experiments; Perspectives on radiation risks on long space missions: deterministic and stochastic effects.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2003

Fundamental space radiobiology.

The unique feature of the space radiation environment is the dominance of high-energy charged particles (HZE or high LET radiation) emitted by the Sun and galactic sources, or trapped in the Van Allen radiation belts. These charged particles present a significant hazard to space flight crews, and accelerator-based experiments are underway to quantify the health risks due to unavoidable radiation exposure. There are three principal properties of charged particles that distinguish them from conventional radiation, i.e. gamma rays and x-rays. First, they have a defined range in matter rather than an exponential absorption profile. Second, they undergo nuclear reactions to produce secondary particles. Third, and most important, they deposit their energy along well-defined linear paths or tracks rather than diffuse fields. The structured energy deposition pattern interacts on multiple scales with the biological structures of DNA, cells and tissues to produce correlated patterns of damage that evade repair systems. Traditional concepts of dose and its associated normalization parameter, RBE (relative biological effectiveness), break down under experimental scrutiny, and probabilistic models of risk based on the number of particle traversals per cell may be more appropriate. Unique patterns of DNA damage, gene expression, mobilization of repair proteins, activation of cytokines and remodeling of cellular microenvironment are observed following exposure to high LET radiation. At low levels of exposure the communication of bioactive substances from irradiated to unirradiated "bystander" cells can amplify the damage and cause a significant deviation from linearity in dose vs. response relations. Under some circumstances, there is even a multigenerational delay in the expression of radiation-induced genetic damage (genomic instability) which is not strictly dose dependent. These issues and the experimental evidence derived from ground based experiments at particle accelerators are presented along with speculation about how modified inertial conditions might perturb homeostatic responses to radiation to further complicate risk assessment for space flight.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Overview of the spaceflight radiation environment and its impact on cell biology experiments.

Variables studied in typical cellular radiation biology experiments are cell killing, mutagenesis, transformation to malignancy, heritable damage, and DNA damage and repair. Dose response curves for cells exposed to low-LET radiations and some high LET radiations are well known. The low-LET dose rate in low earth orbit is roughly 1.0 mSv/day, the heavy-ion (Z>2) flux is about 1.0 particle/cm2-s corresponding to about 0.3 mSv/day, and the integrated neutron flux is roughly 2 neutrons/cm2-s corresponding to 0.012 mGy/d or, assuming a QF of 10, 0.12 mSv/d. Published dose-response curves were used to estimate the probability that a mammalian cell will be affected by each of the above types of damage. As a general approximation the exposure of an experimental cell population to the space radiation environment for 100 days will result in the following probabilities of damage per cell: cell killing based on clonogenicity 0.02, mutagenesis per locus based on phenotype analysis 1 x 10(-6), point mutation induction 2 x 10(-8) per locus, malignant transformation in vitro based on colony morphology 1.2 x 10(-5), heritable damage based on colony size 0.02, and induced DNA double-strand breaks based on fragment analysis by electrophoresis 3.5/cell or 0.26/cell after repair. Most of these figures are accurate to within a factor of 2. Thus the spaceflight radiation environment has essentially undetectable impact on typical cell biology experiments unless experimental goals involve the precise measurement of one of the above end-points. Other in vitro end-points, such as tissue morphogenesis and cell differentiation, are expected to be similarly unaffected by the spaceflight radiation environment.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Neutron environments on the Martian surface.

Radiation is a primary concern in the planning of a manned mission to Mars. Recent studies using NASA Langley Research Center's HZETRN space radiation transport code show that the low energy neutron fluence on the Martian surface is larger than previously expected. The upper atmosphere of Mars is exposed to a background radiation field made up of a large number of protons during a solar particle event and mixture of light and heavy ions caused by galactic cosmic rays at other times. In either case, these charged ions interact with the carbon and oxygen atoms of the Martian atmosphere through ionization and nuclear collisions producing secondary ions and neutrons which then interact with the atmospheric atoms in a similar manner. In the past, only these downward moving particles have been counted in evaluating the neutron energy spectrum on the surface. Recent enhancements in the HZETRN code allow for the additional evaluation of those neutrons created within the Martian regolith through the same types of nuclear reactions, which rise to the surface. New calculations using this improved HZETRN code show that these upward moving neutrons contribute significantly to the overall neutron spectrum for energies less than 10 MeV.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed1994

Importance of dose-rate and cell proliferation in the evaluation of biological experimental results.

The nuclei of cells within the bodies of astronauts traveling on extended missions outside the geomagnetosphere will experience single traversals of particles with high LET (e.g., one iron ion per one hundred years, on average) superimposed on a background of tracks with low LET (approximately one proton every two to three days, and one helium ion per month). In addition, some cell populations within the body will be proliferating, thus possibly providing increasing numbers of cells with "initiated" targets for subsequent radiation hits. These temporal characteristics are not generally reproduced in laboratory experimental protocols. Implications of the differences in the temporal patterns of radiation delivery between conventionally designed radiation biology experiments and the pattern to be experienced in space are examined and the importance of dose-rate and cell proliferation are pointed out in the context of radiation risk assessment on long missions in space.

Cell Count↗
PubMed1996

Empirical models of terrestrial trapped radiation.

A survey of empirical models of particles (electrons, protons and heavier ions) of the Earth's radiation belts developed to date is presented. Results of intercomparison of the different models as well as comparison with experimental data are reported. Aspects of further development of radiation condition modelling in near-Earth space, including dynamic model developing are discussed.

Cosmic Radiation↗
PubMed1998

Induction of chromosomal damage in CHO-K1 cells and their repair-deficient mutant XRS5 by X-ray and particle irradiation.

The cytogenetic effects of X-rays and Au ions were investigated in repair-proficient CHO-K1 cells and their radiosensitive mutant strain xrs5, which shows a defect in the rejoining of DNA double-strand breaks. Both cell lines were synchronized by mitotic shake off, irradiated in G1-phase with either 250 kV X-rays or 780 MeV/u Au ions (LET: 1150 keV/micrometer) and chromosome aberrations were analyzed in first post-irradiation metaphases. Isoeffective doses of X-rays for the induction of aberrant cells and aberrations per cell were about 14 times lower for xrs5 than for CHO-K1 cells. After high LET radiation the difference in the cytogenetic response of both cell lines was drastically diminished. Furthermore, the analysis of the aberration types induced by sparsely and densely ionizing radiation showed for both cell lines specific changes in the spectrum of aberration types as LET increases. The experimental results are discussed with respect to the different types of lesions induced by sparsely and densely ionizing radiation.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

[Radiation environment of orbital complex "Mir" during minimum of the 22-nd solar cycle (1994-1996)].

Analysis of radiation dynamics on board the orbital complex MIR in the period of 1994 through to 1996 overlapping minimum of the 22nd solar cycle (SC) was performed. Radiation parameters in the working compartments during eight MIR missions (MIR 15-22) were evaluated. According to the solar dynamics during minimal activity with the lowest meanings of Wolf numbers (< 20), the daily average dose rate on MIR reached its peak over the whole 22nd SC and by a factor of more than three exceeded meanings typical for solar maximum. A statistical method was used to compute correlation coefficients and set up an equation of linear regression of the absorbed dose with cosmophysical parameters of the SC minimum. Meanings of the correlation coefficients for SC minimum were substantially lower as compared with SC maximum, that is there was no distinct correlation between dose rate and the parameters under study. Radiation doses to cosmonauts violated the admissible radiation limits for ground exposures but not radiation limits established for manned space missions. Reduction of dose loading on cosmonauts during SC minimum can be achieved by planning shorter missions or utilization of a program of radiation protection for traverse of SAA ERB.

Astronauts↗
PubMed1976

The Biostack as an approach to high LET research.

By simple geometric and dosimetric arguments the advantage of an experimental approach to high LET radiation research is demonstrated. The Biostack is capable of recording individual hits of heavy ions on single biological targets. This improved method is compared with the common experimental methods for studying biological effects with high LET radiation and is suggested as an methodological improvement in fundamental research.

Cosmic Radiation↗