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