Synergy effect of subcellular organelles in radiation responses

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25550037
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Risk sciences of radiation and chemicals
• Research Institution: Japan Atomic Energy Agency
• Principal Investigator: YOKOYA Akinari 独立行政法人日本原子力研究開発機構, 原子力科学研究部門 先端基礎研究センター, 研究主席 (10354987)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 放射線影響 / 細胞小器官 / シナジー効果 / ミトコンドリア / X線マイクロビーム / 共生応答 / シンクロトロン放射 / タイムラプスイメージング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this study was to explore synergy effects of organelles in a cell exposed to ionizing radiation. We have established a technique to realize live-cell observation of morphological changes of mitochondria, which is an organelle to produce ATP. Further, we performed synchrotron X-ray microbeam irradiation to a part of a cell, and observed its membrane potential as an indicator of ATP production activity. The evidence showed that irradiating only to cytoplasm caused a delayed enhancement of mitochondrial activity, although irradiating to a cell nucleus reduced the enhancement. These results suggest that there are some synergy effects among organelles to transfer the signal of radiation hits.

Free Research Field

放射線生物物理学