Effect of low doses of ionizing radiation on cells cultured from the hematopoietic tissue of the Dublin Bay prawn, Nephrops norvegicus.
Explant cultures from the hematopoietic tissue of the Dublin Bay prawn, Nephrops norvegicus, were exposed to low doses of (60)Co gamma radiation. Cells growing from the explants were examined 7 days after irradiation using light and transmission electron microscopy and were also tested for their ability to produce signals indicative of a bystander effect. The exposed cultures displayed pronounced damage and were orders of magnitude more sensitive than the data in the literature would suggest for arthropod cells. The cultures were also more sensitive than mammalian cells that were exposed to similar doses. Cellular abnormalities included damage to cytoplasmic organelles, particularly the cytoskeleton. Abnormal mitochondria were also prominent. At low doses (0.5 Gy), nuclear damage was not apparent in the cultures, but there was evidence of a dose-dependent increase in apoptosis. The irradiated cultures released a factor into the medium that was capable of inducing apoptosis and cell death in unirradiated fish and human cells. This bystander effect was of a similar magnitude to that reported for mammalian cell systems. It is suggested that these crustaceans may be highly sensitive to radiation, unlike terrestrial arthropods and certain other invertebrates, which are generally considered to be radioresistant.
Mothersill
C
C
Radiation and Environmental Science Centre, Dublin Institute of Technology, Fitzwilliam House, 30 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. cmothersill@rsc.iol.ie.
Lyng
F
F
Mulford
A
A
Seymour
C
C
Cottell
D
D
Lyons
M
M
Austin
B
B
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000528:radiation effects; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000528:radiation effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes / Q000494:pharmacology*; D033364:Decapoda; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000528:radiation effects; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000235:genetics
D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc