title: Long-term Autophagy and Nrf2 Signaling in the Hippocampi of Developing Mice after Carbon Ion Exposure.
abstract: To explore charged particle radiation-induced long-term hippocampus damage, we investigated the expression of autophagy and antioxidant Nrf2 signaling-related proteins in the mouse hippocampus after carbon ion radiation. Heads of immature female Balb/c mice were irradiated with carbon ions of different LETs at various doses. Behavioral tests were performed on the mice after maturation. Acute and chronic expression of LC3-II, p62/SQSTM1, nuclear Nrf2, activated caspase-3 and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio were measured in the hippocampi. Secondary X-ray insult was adopted to amplify potential damages. Long-term behavioral changes were observed in high-LET carbon ion-irradiated mice. There were no differences in the rates of LC3-II induction and p62/SQSTM1 degradation compared to the control group regardless of whether the mice received the secondary X-ray insult. A high nuclear Nrf2 content and low apoptosis level in hippocampal cells subjected to secondary X-rays were observed for the mice exposed to relatively low-LET carbon ions. Therefore, carbon ion exposure in the immature mouse led to an LET-dependent behavioral change after maturation. Although autophagy was intact, the persistently high nuclear Nrf2 content in the hippocampus might account for the unchanged behavioral pattern in mice exposed to the relatively low-LET carbon ions and the subsequent increased radioresistance of the hippocampus.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.|Department of Modern Physics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.|Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Medicine of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Medicine of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Medicine of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xiongxiong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Medicine of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Medicine of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xinguo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Modern Physics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Tieshan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Medicine of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000528:radiation effects; D001343:Autophagy / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000528:radiation effects; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002244:Carbon / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000528:radiation effects; D003863:Depression / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D007103:Immobilization; D007477:Ions; D007700:Kinetics; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000528:radiation effects; D051267:NF-E2-Related Factor 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000528:radiation effects*; D065853:Spatial Learning / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D007477:Ions; D051267:NF-E2-Related Factor 2; C495636:Nfe2l2 protein, mouse; D002244:Carbon