Smits Elliot, Reid Faith E, Tamgue Ella N, Alvarado Arriaga Paola, Nguyen Charles, Britten Richard A
EVMS School of Medicine, Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23507, USA.
EVMS Radiation Oncology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23507, USA.
Life (Basel). 2025 Mar 12;15(3):449. doi: 10.3390/life15030449.
The Artemis missions will establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, serving as a crucial steppingstone for future Mars exploration. Astronauts on these ambitious missions will have to successfully complete complex tasks, which will frequently involve rapid and effective decision making under unfamiliar or high-pressure conditions. Exposure to low doses of space radiation (SR) can impair key executive functions critical to decision making. This study examined the effects of exposure to 10 cGy of Galactic Cosmic Ray simulated radiation (GCRsim) on decision-making performance in male and female rats with a naturally low predisposition for risk-taking (RTP) prior to exposure. Rats were assessed at monthly intervals following SR exposure and the RTP performance contrasted with that observed during the prescreening process. Exposure to 10 cGy of GCRsim impaired decision making in both male and female rats, with sex-dependent outcomes. By 30 days after SR exposure, female rats became more risk-prone, making less profitable decisions, while male rats retained their decision-making strategies but took significantly longer to make selections. However, continued practice in the RTP tasks appeared to reduce/reverse these performance deficits. This study has expanded our understanding of the range of cognitive processes impacted by SR to include decision making.
阿尔忒弥斯任务将在月球上建立可持续的人类存在，作为未来火星探索的关键垫脚石。执行这些雄心勃勃任务的宇航员必须成功完成复杂任务，这常常需要在不熟悉或高压条件下迅速做出有效决策。暴露于低剂量空间辐射（SR）会损害对决策至关重要的关键执行功能。本研究考察了暴露于10厘戈瑞的银河宇宙射线模拟辐射（GCRsim）对暴露前天生低冒险倾向（RTP）的雄性和雌性大鼠决策表现的影响。在SR暴露后每月对大鼠进行评估，并将RTP表现与预筛选过程中观察到的表现进行对比。暴露于10厘戈瑞的GCRsim损害了雄性和雌性大鼠的决策能力，且有性别依赖性结果。在SR暴露后30天，雌性大鼠变得更倾向于冒险，做出的有利可图决策更少，而雄性大鼠保留了它们的决策策略，但做出选择的时间显著延长。然而，在RTP任务中的持续练习似乎减少/扭转了这些表现缺陷。这项研究扩展了我们对受SR影响的认知过程范围的理解，将决策纳入其中。
