Study on effects of space radiation using mouse embryonic stem cells kept long time in International Space Station

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K11919
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 宇宙生命科学
• Research Institution: Osaka City University
• Principal Investigator: Morita Takashi 大阪市立大学, 大学院医学研究科, 特任教授 (70150349)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 吉田 佳世 大阪市立大学, 大学院医学研究科, 准教授 (30311921) ; 木津 あかね 大阪市立大学, 大学院医学研究科, 登録医 (30623201)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 宇宙放射線 / マウスES細胞 / 染色体異常 / DNA 損傷 / 国際宇宙ステーション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is important to evaluate the influence of space radiation on human body or mammalian cells during a longer stay in space including missions to International Space Station (ISS), the moon of the earth, or Mars. Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells are good candidate to estimate the space radiation effects, because they have normal karyotypes of chromosomes.The frozen mouse ES cells were launched by Space X-II in March 1, 2013 as project named “Stem Cells”. The frozen ES cells have been kept in the Japanese experiment module called “KIBO” in ISS and stored in a freezer (MELFI) at -95C. The ES cells exposed to space radiation were examined by their DNA damages by detecting histone H2AX foci and their chromosomal aberrations by FISH. The ES cells were also microinjected into normal embryos and cultured in vitro to see the developmental defects. The ES cells were thawed and their viabilities, formation of chimeras and chromosome aberrations were tested.

Free Research Field

分子生物学