Summary of Galactic Cosmic Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A 1

Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse Model of Alzheimers Disease by Cherry et al. (2012)

Summary of Galactic Cosmic Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A

Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse Model of Alzheimers Disease by Cherry et al. (2012)

Mitchell Millerberg
Nicole Pearson
March 2017
Summary of Galactic Cosmic Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A 2
Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse Model of Alzheimers Disease by Cherry et al. (2012)

With the recent news of NASA adding additional seats to the International Space Station

(ISS) and the company Blue Origin pitching an idea of an cargo delivery services to the moon

(Koltz, 2017 para. 16), it is clear that space travel beyond earths protective magnetic field will

occur the future; this is why scientist find it pertinent to study the degenerative effects space

travel has on human health (Koltz, 2017). There are many health risks associated with space

travel (Cherry et al., 2012). One such risk is Galactic cosmic radiations potential effect on the

brain, which is outlined (or the primary focus) in Cherry et al.s (2012) paper Galactic Cosmic

Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse

Model of Alzheimers Disease. Cherry et al. (2012) hypothesized that space travel can increase

the risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) (p. 1), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that

destroys memory and other important mental functions, due to the increased risk of galactic

Fe (Cherry et al., 2012). In prior studies, increased amounts of

radiation exposure, particularly 56
56
Fe Radiation to determine if
Fe has been linked to AD. This study exposed lab mice to 56

amyloid beta (A) accumulated into extracellular dense fibril plaques and behavioral memory

loss occurred, a key indicator of AD (Cherry et al., 2012).

Researchers took twenty-nine male and twenty female mice and irradiated the mice with

56Fe radiation at a dose of either 10cGy or 100cGy (females only had a 100cGy dose) (Cherry et

al., 2012). Control mice were placed in tubes similar to the irradiated mice and given sham

radiation. After radiation the study conducted : behavioral testing, tissue collection,

immunohistochemistry, quantification of A plaque load and glial activation, and protein

quantification (Cherry et al., 2012). Each of the listed categories above had a specific set of
Summary of Galactic Cosmic Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A 3
Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse Model of Alzheimers Disease by Cherry et al. (2012)

guidelines on how the experiment was to be performed. These methods gave quantitative data

that can be repeated, thus following the scientific method.

The Behavioral test examined the memory of the mice through their ability to recognize

an environment associated with an adverse stimulus (Cherry et al., 2012). The study used a foot

shock (Cherry et al., 2012). The mice were allowed to explore a novel chamber for 3 minutes,

then 15 seconds of white nose. Immediately following the white noise a shock was administered

(Cherry et al., 2012). This procedure was repeated 3 times for each mouse (Cherry et al., 2012).

The same experiment was then conducted 24 hours later (Cherry et al., 2012). This gave a

control to see if the mice would remember the experiments conducted 24 hours prior (Cherry et

al., 2012).

Fe radiation affected mice brains

The tissue collection was performed to determine how 56

(Cherry et al., 2012). The mice were euthanized by an injection of a salt based solution (Cherry

et al., 2012). Afterwards, the study harvested the mice brains with a razor blade (Cherry et al.,

2012). The right hemisphere was fixed in ice cold 4% paraformaldehyde while the left

hemisphere was snap frozen and isopentane and stored at -80o C until used for ELISA and

western blot analysis (Cherry et al., 2012). Snap freezing is a process in which dry ice is used to

immediately freeze the tissue collection (Snap Freezing, 2017). Collecting the mices brain tissue

allowed for specific tests to be conducted on each side of the brain, which will be explained

below (Cherry et al., 2012).

Right hemisphere brain studies

Using the harvested right hemisphere brain samples, researchers used a light microscope

and photoshop to evaluate the amount of A plaque and microglial activation present (Cherry et
Summary of Galactic Cosmic Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A 4
Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse Model of Alzheimers Disease by Cherry et al. (2012)

al., 2012). Microglial activation is the removal process of plaques in the brain through

phagocytosis (Cherry et al., 2012). The photo images were of the whole cortex (outermost part of

the brain) and hippocampus (deep to the cortex, part of the limbic system, responsible for the

short term and long term memory functions) (Cherry et al., 2012). Using special dyes such as

congo red the research team was able to calculate and analyze the images into useful data

(Cherry et al., 2012). This data contributes to determining if there is neuroinflammation, which

can inhibit neural function including memory (Cherry et al., 2012).

Left hemisphere brain studies

The left hemisphere of the brain that was immediately frozen after the dissection and

harvest had a protein quantification experiment performed on it (Cherry et al., 2012). Protein

quantification is an analytical chemistry method to determine the number of proteins present in a

sample. Researchers used both Western blot and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay)

samples (Cherry et al., 2012). Only the male 0 cGy and 100 cGy samples were used in the

Western blot testing (Cherry et al., 2012). The Western blot test determines if a specific protein

is present through using antibodies that recognize proteins changed by lipoic acid (an acid used

in animal aerobic metabolism) (Western blot, 2015). ELISA quantifies substances like peptides,

proteins, antibodies, and hormones (Kinman, 2015).

The results of the behavioral tests indicated learning and memory were affected by the

radiation (Cherry et al., 2012). Male mice showed more significant effects by the radiation than

Fe
the female mice (Cherry et al., 2012). Cherry et al. (2012) brain tissue tests also suggest 56

radiation correlates with the development of AD as shown in the quote below.

Summary of Galactic Cosmic Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A 5
Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse Model of Alzheimers Disease by Cherry et al. (2012)

In addition to behavioral deficits, we saw enhanced A plaque accumulation as

judged by two different markers. 6E10 showed an increase in total deposited A

levels and Congo red showed an increase in aggregation of plaques into dense

fibrils. These results were further confirmed by ELISA data (Fig. 3). Ab plaque

staining is used to gauge progression and stage AD pathology [12] (p. 7).

Fe radiation (typically found

All the different tests results indicate there are is a correlation of 56

in space travel) and an increased probability in the development of AD.

The results from this experiment coincided with the original claim that space radiation

affects the likelihood of developing AD (Cherry et al., 2012). This could be a concern to

entrepreneurs and future astronauts that plan on traveling outside the earth's protective magnetic

field. More research still needs to be conducted actual humans and actual space travel since

Cherry et al. (2012) only studies mice in a lab. Until then, there is considerable evidence that

space radiation has a strong correlation with the development of AD (Cherry et al., 2012).

Summary of Galactic Cosmic Radiation Leads to Cognitive Impairment and Increased A 6

Plaque Accumulation in a Mouse Model of Alzheimers Disease by Cherry et al. (2012)

References

Cherry, J. D., Liu, B., Frost, J. L., Lemere, C. A., Williams, J. P., Olschowka, J. A., & OBanion,
M. K. (2012). Galactic cosmic radiation leads to cognitive impairment and increased A
plaque accumulation in a mouse model of Alzheimers disease. PLOS ONE, 7(12),
e53275, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053275.

Klotz, I. (2017). Congress mulls options for space station beyond 2014. Space.com. Retrieved
from
http://www.space.com/36179-congress-international-space-station-beyond-2024.html.

Kinman, T. (2015). ELISA. Retrieved from http://www.healthline.com/health/elisa.

Snap Freezing. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.biocision.com/applications/snap-freezing.

Western blot. (2015). Retrieved from

https://labtestsonline.org/understanding/features/methods/start/3.