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Objective:To analyze the damage in hippocampal tissues of mice after whole-body irradiation with high- or low-dose ionizing radiation and to investigate the roles of microglia/macrophages polarization in the injury.Methods:C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups: sham irradiation group, low-dose group (0.05 Gy) and high-dose group (7 Gy). Low- and high-dose groups were respectively treated by whole-body irradiation with single dose of 60Co γ-rays. Hippocampal tissues of the mice were collected at 6 h, 1 d, 3 d and 7 d after irradiation. The morphology, structure and apoptosis of neurons were detected by HE staining, Nissl staining and Tunnel staining, respectively. RT-PCR and immunofluorescence assay were performed to detect the expression of M1 and M2 microglial markers at mRNA and protein levels in hippocampus tissues. The cognitive and emotional behaviors of mice were evaluated one month after the irradiation by Morris water maze, open field test, elevated plus maze and tail suspension test. Results:There were morphological and structural changes in the nerve cells in the hippocampus region of mice after irradiation, accompanied by apoptosis. Acute injuries occurred at 6 h after radiation, alleviated at 1 d and 3 d, and persisted at 7 d in a dose-dependent manner. The results of immunofluorescence staining and confocal imaging analysis showed that compared with the sham irradiation group, the high-dose group showed increased number of microglia, down-regulated expression of M1 microglial markers and up-regulated expression of M2 microglial markers in the hippocampus at 6 h and 1 d after radiation, while M2 microglial markers decreased at 3 d and 7 d after irradiation. PCR results showed that the expression of M1 and M2 microglial markers at mRNA level in the irradiation groups increased at 6 h after irradiation, but there was no statistical significance. The expression of related proinflammatory/anti-inflammatory factors was significantly up-regulated. The results of behavioral experiments showed that compared with the sham irradiation group, there was no statistical difference in cognitive or emotional behaviors at one month after irradiation.Conclusions:60Co γ-rays could damage mouse hippocampal tissues and result in the overexpression and different polarization patterns of microglia/macrophages in mice.
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Objective:To investigate the application of therapeutic grade ionization chamber to rapid measurement of short pulsed and high-dose-rate X-ray.Methods:The half-value layer of pulsed X-ray caused by an electron accelerator was measured by interpolation method and its equivalent energy was estimated. The cumulative doses from a certain amount of pulsed radiation at different distances in the same direction around the equipment were compared using the therapeutic grade ionization chamber and thermoluminescence measurement method . The relationship between the measurement result by using ionization chamber dosimeter and the distances away from source was analyzed. The cumulative doses from a certain amount of pulsed radiation at the same location at different frequencies were compared.Results:In working condition, 100 pulses of radiation were received accumulatively at 1 to 12 meters away from the outer wall of the equipment. The range of air Kerma was 0.08-9.65 mGy measured by using thermoluminescence dometers and 0.08 - 9.85 mGy using the ionization chamber dosimeters, respectively. The difference between both is within 10%. At different frequencies (1-10 Hz), there was no significant difference in X-ray air Kerma from 100 pulses measured by ionization chamber dosimeter at 2 m away from the front of the equipment ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The therapeutic grade ionization chamber dosimeter can be used for the rapid measurement of short pulsed X-ray radiation dose in the range of dose rates and pulse frequencies involved in the experimental accelerator device.
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Objective:To construct a prokaryotic expression vector for liver and lymph node sinusoidal endothelial cell C-type lectin carbohydrate recognition domain (LSECtin-CRD) in which two amino acids were mutated to Cys and to evaluate the bioactivity of LSECtin-CRD mutants.Methods:Mutation sites were selected based on predicted 3D model of LSECtin-CRD. Site-directed mutagenesis was carried out using sequence overlapped extension PCR (SOE-PCR). The cDNA fragments of LSECtin-CRD mutants were subcloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET28b-Tat. The expression of soluble LSECtin-CRD mutants was induced with IPTG and identified by SDS-PAGE. Ni-NTA affinity chromatography was used for purification. The bioactivities of LSECtin-CRD mutants were assessed by mannose and GlcNAc binding assays.Results:The prokaryotic expression vectors for LSECtin-CRD mutants G205C-A227C and G205C-D279C were successfully constructed as demonstrated by PCR and gene sequencing. The two mutants were efficiently expressed in soluble forms and had significant sugar-binding activities.Conclusions:Functional LSECtin-CRD mutants were successfully obtained, laying an experimental foundation for further study on the relationship between the function and structure of LSECtin-CRD.
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Objective To explore the feasibility of EPR in vivo fingernail dosimetry to address the difficulty in separating mechanically induced signals from fingernail EPR dosimetry for need of nuclear medical emergency aid.Methods Using the specially designed EPR in vivo measurement system,uncut fingernails were measured to obtain the characteristics of EPR signal without mechanically induced signals.The in vivo fingernail experiment was carried out to evaluate the impact of in vivo condition on the spectra.Actual in vivo measurement experiment was conducted to evaluate the interference of the in vivo condition on EPR spectra.Results The background signal distribution of uncut fingernails was obtained and background signals had no significant difference between male and female(P＞0.05).The dose response curve in the range of 2-10 Gy was established,and the half-life of the fingernail radiation-induced signal was approximately 5 d.The water treatment combined with temperature-changing was established for restoring the background signal.EPR signal obtained after restoring treatment has no significant difference with background signal (P＞ 0.05).The EPR spectra of in vivo fingernails were obtained.Conclusions The EPR spectra without mechanically induced signals can be acquired by this method.The feasibility of the in vivo fingernail EPR dosimetry is preliminarily verified.
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Objective To develop a promising type of radiation dosimeter based on doped hydroxyapatite,and to study the stability of dosimetric characteristics indepth.Methods The samples prepared by stereotyping techniques were stored under different temperatures,humidity and illumination conditions after 60Co γ-ray irradiation.Electron spin resonance (ESR) technique was used to quantitatively measure the radiation-induced free radical signal.Results The signal change was less than 3% when the dosimeter was preserved at 4℃ or room temperature within 3 months in the experiment.At 40℃,the signal changed by about 13%,but at room temperature with the humidity less than 36%,the signal changed less than 2%.The change rose to about 8% when humidity was 76%.However,no significant decay of signal strength occurred at relatively high temperatures and under high humidity conditions.When the samples were stored under average illumination of 1600 lux or in a light-resistant container,the signal changes were less than 3.8% or 3.4% respectively.Long-term stability inspection at room temperature suggested a signal change within 4.8%.Conclusion The dosimetric properties of the material don't change significantly below room temperature in a natural environment and exhibit good stability over long-term storage.The free radical signal is not influenced drastically by relatively strong light exposure.However,a high temperature or a highly humid environment may have some effect on the measurement process,which should be taken into consideration in further applications.
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Objective To optimize the enamel electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectral processing by using the EPR spectral simulation method to improve the accuracy of enamel EPR dosimetry and reduce artificial error.Methods The multi-component superimposed EPR powder spectral simulation software was developed to simulate EPR spectrum models of the background signal(BS) and the radiation- induced signal (RS) of irradiated enamel respectively.RS was extracted from the multi-component superimposed spectrum of irradiated enamel and its amplitude was calculated.The dose-response curve was then established for calculating the doses of a group of enamel samples.The result of estimated dose was compared with that calculated by traditional method.Results BS was simulated as a powder spectrum of gaussian line shape with the following spectrum parameters:g =2.00 35 and Hpp =0.65 - 1.1 mT,RS signal was also simulated as a powder spectrum but with axi-symmetric spectrum characteristics.The spectrum parameters of RS were:g(1) =2.0018,g (11) =1.996 5,Hpp =0.335 - 0.4 mT.The amplitude of RS had a linear response to radiation dose with the regression equation as y =240.74x + 76 724 ( R2 =0.9947 ).The expectation of relative error of dose estimation was 0.13.Conclusions EPR simulation method has improved somehow the accuracy and reliability of enamel EPR dose estimation.