Female mice are protected from space radiation-induced maladaptive responses.

ABSTRACT: Interplanetary exploration will be humankind's most ambitious expedition and the journey required to do so, is as intimidating as it is intrepid. One major obstacle for successful deep space travel is the possible negative effects of galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) exposure. Here, we investigate for the first time how combined GCR impacts long-term behavioral and cellular responses in male and female mice. We find that a single exposure to simulated GCR induces long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits only in the male cohorts. GCR exposed male animals have diminished social interaction, increased anxiety-like phenotype and impaired recognition memory. Remarkably, we find that the female cohorts did not display any cognitive or behavioral deficits after GCR exposure. Mechanistically, the

SUBMITTER: Krukowski K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8715721 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature