The effects of high energy radiation on the vestibular and immune function in rats (693.22)

Abstract

The objective of the project is to study radiation effects on the vestibular and immune systems in rats. It is proposed that high energy radiation will compromise vestibular/balance system and immune function since nasopharyngeal cancer patients experience post‐irradiation vertigo and whole body radiation therapy causes immune suppression. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood.Sprague‐Dawley rats were exposed to different doses of either unilateral cranial using 6 MeV electron beam (0 to 60Gy) or whole body using 18 MeV electron beam (0 to 10 Gy). For vestibular study, seven days post irradiation, single unit recording of vestibular afferent activity was performed. A total of 309 horizontal semicircular canal afferents’ responses to sinusoidal earth‐horizontal rotations (~1Hz) were analyzed. For immune function study, total RNAs were extracted from immune organs such as thymus and spleen. The genes involved in Stress and Toxicity PathwayFinder were examined using RT2 ProfilerTM PCR Array.Preliminary analysis shows that electron irradiation caused significant decreases in the gains of the irregular horizontal semicircular canal afferents. The gene expression profiles indicated significant changes in oxidative stress, DNA damage and repair as well as apoptosis related genes.In conclusion, these results indicate that irradiation exposure induces specific functional deficiency of the vestibular and immune system in rats.Grant Funding Source: Supported by NASA MSI EPSCoR (NNX12AK85A and NNX13AB31A), NIH R01DC012060 (HZ), NIH R01DC008585 (WZ)