QUANTITATION OF RADIATION EFFECTS ON HUMAN CELLS

MEASURING THE EFFECTS OF IONIZING RADIATION ON CELLS OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AND DEVISING METHODS TO PROTECT HUMANS AGAINST RADIATION DAMAGE ARE ESSENTIAL TO LONG-DURATION SPACE TRAVEL. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP FLOW CYTOMETRIC METHODS FOR MONITORING RADIATION DAMAGE TO LYMPHOCYTES, AND TO ASSESS CHEMICAL AGENTS FOR THEIR ABILITY TO SERVE AS RADIOPROTECTORS. THE RESPONSE OF HUMAN MONONUCLEAR CELLS TO INCREASING LEVELS OF RADIATION WILL BE GAUGED BY PARALLEL ASSAYS ON CELLS ISOLATED FROM NORMAL INDIVIDUALS. THE CELLS WILL BE IRRADIATED WITH INCREASING DOSES OF GAMMA RADIATION AND THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS WILL BE MEASURED ON THE SAME CELL POPULATION: IMMUNE RESPONSE BY IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE MEASUREMENT OF DNA REPLICATION AND DNA CONTENT; CYTOTOXICITYOF NATURAL KILLER (NK) CELLS; AND INTRACELLULAR GLUTATHIONE LEVELS. THRESHOLD LEVELS OF IMPAIRMENT OF THESE PARAMETERS WILL BE DETERMINED, AND THE ABILITY OF RADIOPROTECTIVE AGENTS TO MODULATE THEM WILL BE DETERMINED. THE INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED SHOULD BE VALUABLE TO NASA AND FOR APPLICATION TO COMMERCIAL, BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY. MEASURING THE EFFECTS OF IONIZING RADIATION ON CELLS OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AND DEVISING METHODS TO PROTECT HUMANS AGAINST RADIATION DAMAGE ARE ESSENTIAL TO LONG-DURATION SPACE TRAVEL. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP FLOW CYTOMETRIC METHODS FOR MONITORING RADIATION DAMAGE TO LYMPHOCYTES, AND TO ASSESS CHEMICAL AGENTS FOR THEIR ABILITY TO SERVE AS RADIOPROTECTORS. THE RESPONSE OF HUMAN MONONUCLEAR CELLS TO INCREASING LEVELS OF RADIATION WILL BE GAUGED BY PARALLEL ASSAYS ON CELLS ISOLATED FROM NORMAL INDIVIDUALS. THE CELLS WILL BE IRRADIATED WITH INCREASING DOSES OF GAMMA RADIATION AND THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS WILL BE MEASURED ON THE SAME CELL POPULATION: IMMUNE RESPONSE BY IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE MEASUREMENT OF DNA REPLICATION AND DNA CONTENT; CYTOTOXICITYOF NATURAL KILLER (NK) CELLS; AND INTRACELLULAR GLUTATHIONE LEVELS. THRESHOLD LEVELS OF IMPAIRMENT OF THESE PARAMETERS WILL BE DETERMINED, AND THE ABILITY OF RADIOPROTECTIVE AGENTS TO MODULATE THEM WILL BE DETERMINED. THE INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED SHOULD BE VALUABLE TO NASA AND FOR APPLICATION TO COMMERCIAL, BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY.