Neurobiological effects under investigation

A biophysical seminar "Neurobiological effects of ionizing radiation with different physical characteristics" was held at the Laboratory of Radiation Biology.

A researcher of the Sector of Radiation Physiology Yu.S.Severyukhin (in the photo) presented a report on a range of experiments to study disorders of the brain and visual system in rodents after irradiation with accelerated charged particles. The sessions of irradiation with protons and carbon ions, presented in the report were carried out at the JINR Phasotron and Nuclotron facilities. In the post-radiation period, the nature of disturbances in various behavioral reactions was studied in animals. Motor and exploratory activity, anxiety level, short-term memory and attention were estimated.

A significant part of the work was dedicated to the investigation of morphological changes in the brain after exposure. The results obtained indicate marked disturbances in memory, attention and research activity after irradiation, the occurrence of pathological changes in the tissues of the nervous system. The revealed disturbances were estimated in comparison with gamma-irradiated animals. The disorders of higher integrative functions in the central nervous system of irradiated animals are important for the estimation of the radiation hazard of long-distance space flights and the occurrence of complications during hadron therapy for malignant neoplasms in the CNS.

The methodological basis and approaches used to carry out radiobiological experiments are applicable and relevant for the scheduled sessions at the modernized JINR accelerators.

Own inf., photo by Igor LAPENKO