Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 14;20(2):15593258221092365.
doi: 10.1177/15593258221092365. eCollection 2022 Apr-Jun.

Low-Dose Gamma Radiation Modulates Liver and Testis Tissues Response to Acute Whole Body Irradiation

Nahed Abdel-Aziz  1 , Riham A-H Haroun  2 , Hebatallah E Mohamed  1
Affiliations

Low-Dose Gamma Radiation Modulates Liver and Testis Tissues Response to Acute Whole Body Irradiation

Nahed Abdel-Aziz et al. Dose Response. .

Abstract

Aim: This work aims to investigate whether the pre-exposure to low dose/low dose rate (40 mGy, 2.2 mGy/hour) γ-radiation as a priming dose can produce a protective effect against the subsequent high one (4 Gy, .425 Gy/minute).

Methods: Rats were divided into Group I (control), Group II (L); exposed to 40 mGy, Group III (H); exposed to 4 Gy, and Group IV (L+H); exposed to 40 mGy 24 hours before the exposure to 4Gy. The molecular and biochemical changes related to oxidative stress, DNA damage, apoptosis, and mitochondrial activity in the liver and testis were studied 4 hours after irradiation.

Results: Exposure to 40 mGy before 4 Gy induced a significant increase in the levels of Nrf2, Nrf2 mRNA, TAC, and mitochondrial complexes I & II accompanied by a significant decrease in the levels of LPO, 8-OHdG, DNA fragmentation, TNF-α, caspase-3, and caspase-3 mRNA compared with H group.

Conclusion: Exposure to low-dose γ-radiation before a high dose provides protective mechanisms that allow the body to survive better after exposure to a subsequent high one via reducing the oxidative stress, DNA damage, and apoptosis-induced early after irradiation. However, further studies are required to identify the long-term effects of this low dose.

Keywords: Tumor necrosis factor-α; caspase-3; complex I& complex II; low dose radiation; nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2; radiation hormesis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Oxidative stress markers in the liver (blue) and testes (green) of rats. (A): Level of Lipid peroxidation (LPO); (B): Level of Total antioxidant capacity (TAC); (C): Concentration of Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf2); (D):Fold change of Nrf2 mRNA relative to Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 10). a: significant compared to L group, c: significant compared to H group, d: significant compared to L ± H group (P < .05).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Damage of DNA markers in the liver (blue) and testes (green) of rats. (A): level of 8-hydroxy-2’-dexyguanosine (8-OHdg). Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 10). a: significant compared to L group, c: significant compared to H group, d: significant compared to L ± H group (P < .05). (B); DNA fragmentation agarose gel electrophoresis. Lane 1: DNA ladder; Lane 2, 4, 6 & 8: DNA from liver of rats of control, L, H and L+H groups; respectively. Lane 3, 5, 7 & 9; DNA from testes of rats of control. L, H and L ±H groups, respectively.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Inflammation and apoptosis markers in the liver (blue) and testes (green) of rats. (A): Concentration of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α); (B): Activity of Capase-3; (C): Fold change of TNF-α mRNA relative to Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH); (D): Fold change of Caspase-3 mRNA relative toGlyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 10). a: significant compared to L group, c: significant compared to H group, d: significant compared to L ± H group (P < .05).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Mitochondrial markers in the liver (blue) and testes (green) of rats. (A): Activity of NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex-I); (B): Activity of Succinate dehydrogenase (Complex–II). Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 10). a: significant compared to L group, c: significant compared to H group, d: significant compared to L ± H group (P < .05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Vaiserman A, Koliada A, Zabuga O, Socol Y. Health impacts of low-dose ionizing radiation: Current scientific debates and regulatory issues. Dose Response. 2018;1916(3):1559325818796331. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shibamoto Y, Nakamura H. Overview of biological, epidemiological, and clinical evidence of radiation hormesis. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;1319(8):2387. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ali YF, Cucinotta FA, Ning-Ang L, Zhou G. Cancer risk of low dose ionizing radiation. Front Phys. 2020;8:234.
    1. Belmans N, Oenning AC, Salmon B, et al. Radiobiological risks following dentomaxillofacial imaging: Should we be concerned? Dentomaxillofac Radiol. 2021;14:20210153. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Unscear . Biological mechanisms of radiation actions at low doses. A white paper to guide the Scientific Committee’s future programme of work. New York, NY: United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation; 2012;12:57831.Report No.