National Center for Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy.
National Centre for Radiation Protecti on and Computational Physics, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jan 19;24(3):1972. doi: 10.3390/ijms24031972.
Retina can receive incidental γ-ray exposure from various sources. For example, although radiation therapy is a crucial tool for managing head and neck tumors, patients may develop ocular complications as collateral damage from accidental irradiation. Recently, there has been concern that retinal irradiation during space flight may compromise mission goals and long-term quality of life after space travel. Previously, in our in vitro model, we proved that immature retinal cells are more vulnerable to γ-radiation than differentiated neurons. Here, we investigate if a low-dose pre-irradiation (0.025 Gy), known to have a protective effect in various contexts, can affect DNA damage and oxidative stress in cells exposed to a high dose of γ-rays (2 Gy). Our results reveal that pre-irradiation reduces 2 Gy effects in apoptotic cell number, H2AX phosphorylation and oxidative stress. These defensive effects are also evident in glial cells (reduction in GFAP and ED1 levels) and antioxidant enzymes (catalase and CuZnSOD). Overall, our results confirm that rat retinal cultures can be an exciting tool to study γ-irradiation toxic effects on retinal tissue and speculate that low irradiation may enhance the skill of retinal cells to reduce damage induced by higher doses.
视网膜可能会意外地受到来自各种来源的γ射线照射。例如，尽管放射疗法是治疗头颈部肿瘤的重要手段，但患者可能会因意外照射而产生眼部并发症。最近，人们担心在太空飞行期间的视网膜照射会影响任务目标和太空旅行后的长期生活质量。此前，我们在体外模型中证明，未成熟的视网膜细胞比分化的神经元对γ辐射更敏感。在这里，我们研究了低剂量预照射（0.025 Gy）是否会影响暴露于高剂量γ射线（2 Gy）的细胞中的 DNA 损伤和氧化应激，已知这种预照射在各种情况下都具有保护作用。我们的结果表明，预照射可减少细胞凋亡、H2AX 磷酸化和氧化应激的数量。这种防御作用在神经胶质细胞（GFAP 和 ED1 水平降低）和抗氧化酶（过氧化氢酶和 CuZnSOD）中也很明显。总的来说，我们的结果证实，大鼠视网膜培养物可以成为研究γ射线照射对视网膜组织的毒性作用的令人兴奋的工具，并推测低剂量照射可能增强视网膜细胞减少高剂量诱导的损伤的能力。
