The interdisciplinary research of ionizing and non- ionizing object effect which are actual for human stay in near and deep Space (among them for Mars and others Planet Missions) was carried out. It was shown, that influence of micro- and nano-dimensional radioactive "hot" particles (from dust) incorporated in an organism (especially in respiratory ways) is caused to over remote carcinogenic results with the incubatory periods up to 20 - 30 years and more. On the other hand, high energy (many GeV) galactic protons and more heavy ions which form radiating streams can generate such hot particles inside of manned space vehicles. The problems of duly early detection, localization and elevation of such particles from respiratory ways of the person are considered. Objectification methods of the nonionized technogenic electromagnetic radiations and helio-geomagnetic disturbances (HGD) influences are developed considered for human health and professional reliability from organism to molecular levels.

During the geomagnetic storms it was revealed the increasing of blood cell element micro aggregations. It blocks capillary blood micro circulation which results to deoxygenating. This effects are most strong for ischemic heart disease patients provoking stenocardia, arrhythmia (up to 1000-1400 extrasistola per hour), infarctions, insults etc. For many healthy people of the professional aircraft, astronauts, and other high risk personnel it was demonstrated the decreasing of resources of cardio respiratory systems and other functional organism resources, the increasing of physiological and emotional strain during test and professional physical and neuro-psychical activity. It was shown that, depending on the level of functional resources of the organism, HGD can have either depressing or exciting (up to euphoria) effects which decreases of the human factor reliability. Sensitivity of the eye vision analyze systems and other elements of central nervous system to heliomagnetic disturbances were revealed. The methods of monitoring, prophylactic, and adaptation for HGD labile personal are developed. The interdisciplinary problems of HGD influence on environment (volcanism, seismic, climate), human, and society (depressive and euphoria effects provoking social strain and conflicts) are considered. The work was supported by Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation grant No 08-06-00396a).

Even though many studies were performed about the effect of ionizing radiations on plant and animal organisms, only a few regarded non-ionizing radiations, such as neutrons. To better understand if neutrons, a kind of radiation difficult to screen, affect the plant tissues at molecular level, wild-type plants of Arabidopsis thaliana (ecotype Ws) and the mutants aux1 and eir1 were submitted to neutron bombardment at two different doses (48 and 76 mGy). The experiments were done at the Frascati (Rome) Neutron Generator (FNG), using 15-day old seedlings and 35-day old plants. A Real-Time PCR analysis of the mRNA expression of some genes involved in the auxin response and transport, in the senescence, and in the response to oxidative stress, was carried out before and after the treatment.

Wild-types, both seedlings and mature plants, showed a downregulation of the transcript levels of genes arf1, 2, and 19 and an upregulation of transcript levels of the genes iaa3, 6, 7, sag12, 13, cat1, 2 and fe-sod. By contrast, the auxin transport mutants aux1 and eir1 showed upregulation of arf 1, 2, 19, and downregulation of IAA3, 6 and 7. In addition, the genes involved in photosynthesis cab1 and rbcs were downregulated both in the wild-types and in the mutants, and the Photosystem II activity was reduced by irradiation, as indicated by the measurements of the photochemical quenching. However, 48 hours after the irradiation, gene expression started to recover consistently both in the wild-type and mutants, even though not completely. Furthermore, the flowering was accelerated in the exposed plants, with the exception of arf 2, which resistance to aging was clearly increased by irradiation. We showed that neutrons are able to consistently and negatively modify, especially in the wild-type, the expression of the auxin responsive factors, senescence related genes, and genes involved in the response to oxidative stress conditions. The persistence of the neutron radiation stress should thus lead plants to premature aging and death. A possibility, however, of overcoming the effect of the stress could be found not only in some kind of screening against the radiation, but also in selecting particular resistant mutants, or genetically modifying the plants with appropriate genes.

Radiation causes inflammation, and chronic, low-level vascular inflammation is a risk factor for atherosclerosis. Consistent with this, exposure to radiation from a variety of sources is associated with increased risk of heart disease and stroke. One model used to understand this is the apoE mouse, where gamma irradiation focused to the aortic arch and carotid arteries has been shown to accelerate development of atherosclerosis. Less is known, however, about the effects of high-LET radiation, such as iron-ions (56Fe), likely to be encountered by astronauts on deep-space missions. With the hypothesis that that the underlying mechanism for acceleration of atherogenesis is enhanced vascular inflammation directly caused by the radiation, we have begun a series of apoE mouse experiments to determine the effects of 56Fe on radiation-induced atherogenesis.

A complicating factor, however, is that radiation can have substantial negative effects on lymphoid organs, which could complicate interpretation of results. Previous studies have demonstrated that whole-body 56Fe irradiation results in decreased thymus size in at little as 4 days. In addition, whole-body 56Fe irradiation of mice has long-lasting effects on circulating lymphocyte numbers, with decreases in both B-cells and T-cells for at least 16 weeks. Whether these changes are due to radiation of the thymus, radiation of the bone marrow, or both cannot be determined from whole-body irradiation experiments. When radiation is focused on the aorta and carotids in the apoE mouse atherosclerosis model, the thymus is included in the target area; most of the bone marrow is excluded. To determine whether leukocyte populations in general, or T-cell number in particular, would be affected by radiation to the chest and neck, we measured relative blood leukocyte populations at 13 and 40 weeks following irradiation.

ApoE mice were irradiated with 600 MeV 56Fe at 2 and 5 Gy to determine the effect of iron ion irradiation on development of atherosclerosis, and to determine whether unavoidable inclusion of the thymus in the target area might have long-term effects on circulating lymphocyte number. We found that, although circulating levels of monoctyes, granulocytic cells, and B-cells were not significantly changed by targeted radiation, circulating levels of T-cells were reduced at 13 weeks post-irradiation. By 40 weeks, however, this effect had disappeared. This suggests that although radiation damage to the thymus may have acute effects on inflammatory processes, the immune system is able to recover in the apoE model. Analysis of atherosclerosis development is pending sacrifice and histological analysis of irradiated mice.

Rationale. Radiation- and microgravity-induced cell damages are the main pathological events during human space exploration. Therefore, apoptosis prevention is one of the most rational countermeasures to assure human health in future space life. We previously observed that, respect to other free radical scavengers, CoQ10 was particularly effective in preventing corneal keratocyte apoptosis induced by laser refractive surgical procedures, both in vitro and in vivo. We have patented CoQ10 as eye drops (collirio) for this application. We have than demonstrated that the particular antiapoptotic effectiveness of CoQ10 is also consequent to its ability to prevent Permeability Transition Pore (PTP) opening, the main trigger of apoptosis execution (Papucci et al., J Biol. Chem. 278:28220-28220, 2003). Here we demonstrate the ability of CoQ10 to prevent apoptosis in the response to genotoxic and free radical-mediated eye damages induced by UVC irradiation. Although UVC are not the main component of radiations in the space capsule, they are the most easily available irradiation source for experimental pathology, which prompted us to use UVC for these initial experiments in vivo

Results. UVC were applied in both eyes of ten male albino Wistar rats (3 months of age). Five hours before irradiation, CoQ10 was applied as eye drops solution to five rats, while the other five rats were treated with vehicle only. After treatment, the corneas were analyzed using the In Situ End Labeling (ISEL) technique of nicked DNA to detect DNA fragmentation. The total number of ISEL positive nuclei within each cornea was scored by two different observers. Light microscopic examination of cornea slices clearly showed the apoptotic effects of UVC irradiation and also the marked protection against apoptosis of pre-treatment with CoQ10.

Conclusion. The particular effectivenes of CoQ10 in preventing apoptosis induced by UVC irradiation, consequent both to its free-radical scavenging activity and to its ability to prevent opening of mitochondrial PTP, suggests its applicability as countermeasure to prevent eye damages during interplanetary space exploration.

Aknowledgements. We thank Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca (I), Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca for their contributions to our research.