Radiation biology. Radioecology
ISSN: 0869-8031

Archives → 2020 → V. 60. №4. → pp. 362–370

Article

Radiation-induced Changes of Nuclear DNA in Neurons of the Brain

I. B. Ushakov^a and V. P. Fyodorov^b

^aRussian State Research Center − Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Center of Federal Medical Biological Agency, Moscow, Russia. ^bNikiforov Russian Center of Emergency and Radiation Medicine, EMERCOM of Russia, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Abstract

In experiments on rats exposed to General γ-irradiation at doses from 0.1 to 1.0 Gy, radiation-induced changes in nuclear DNA in brain neurons were investigated using histochemical techniques. It is established that both control and irradiated animals throughout their lives undergo wave-like changes in the content of nuclear DNA in neurons with a gradual decrease in the indicators by the end of the observation period. In this case, changes in DNA in neurons are usually associated with changes in the size of the nuclei. Regression analysis showed that a single total irradiation in small doses has a nonlinear stochastic effect on the dynamics of nuclear DNA, has no dose-time dependence and does not cause significant organic changes in the content and topochemistry of the products of histochemical reactions in the neurons of the brain compared to age control.

Keywords

small doses of radiation, brain, neuron, karyometric parameters, nuclear DNA