Abstract

Purpose

The long-term effect of low and moderate doses of ionizing radiation on the lens is still a matter of debate and needs to be evaluated in more detail.

Material and Methods

We conducted a detailed histological analysis of eyes from B6C3F1 mice cohorts after acute gamma irradiation (⁶⁰Co source; 0.063 Gy/min) at young adult age of 10 weeks with doses of 0.063, 0.125, and 0.5 Gy. Sham irradiated (0 Gy) mice were used as controls. To test for genetic susceptibility heterozygous Ercc2 mutant mice were used and compared to wild-type mice of the same strain background. Mice of both sexes were included in all cohorts. Eyes were collected 4 h, 12, 18 and 24 months after irradiation. For a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms, metabolomics analyses were performed in lenses and plasma samples of the same mouse cohorts at 4 and 12 h as well as 12, 18 and 24 months after irradiation. For this purpose, a targeted analysis was chosen.

Results

This analysis revealed histological changes particularly in the posterior part of the lens that rarely can be observed by using Scheimpflug imaging, as we reported previously. We detected a significant increase of posterior subcapsular cataracts (PSCs) 18 and 24 months after irradiation with 0.5 Gy (odds ratio 9.3; 95% confidence interval 2.1–41.3) independent of sex and genotype. Doses below 0.5 Gy (i.e. 0.063 and 0.125 Gy) did not significantly increase the frequency of PSCs at any time point. In lenses, we observed a clear effect of sex and aging but not of irradiation or genotype. While metabolomics analyses of plasma from the same mice showed only a sex effect.

Conclusions

This article demonstrates a significant radiation-induced increase in the incidence of PSCs, which could not be identified using Scheimpflug imaging as the only diagnostic tool.

中文翻译：

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后囊下白内障是小鼠急性暴露于 0.5 Gy 电离辐射后的晚期效应

摘要

目的

低剂量和中等剂量的电离辐射对晶状体的长期影响仍然存在争议，需要更详细地评估。

材料与方法

我们对 B6C3F1 小鼠群在10 周的年轻成人接受急性伽马辐射（⁶⁰ Co 源；0.063 Gy/min）后的眼睛进行了详细的组织学分析，剂量为 0.063、0.125 和 0.5 Gy。假照射 (0 Gy) 小鼠用作对照。为了测试遗传易感性，使用杂合的Ercc2突变小鼠并与相同品系背景的野生型小鼠进行比较。两性小鼠都包括在所有队列中。在照射后 4 小时、12、18 和 24 个月收集眼睛。为了更好地了解潜在机制，在照射后 4 小时和 12 小时以及 12、18 和 24 个月时，对同一组小鼠的晶状体和血浆样本进行了代谢组学分析。为此，选择了有针对性的分析。

结果

该分析揭示了组织学变化，特别是晶状体后部的组织学变化，正如我们之前报道的那样，使用 Scheimpflug 成像很少能观察到这些变化。我们检测到后囊下白内障 (PSC) 在 0.5 Gy 照射后 18 个月和 24 个月显着增加（优势比 9.3；95% 置信区间 2.1-41.3），与性别和基因型无关。低于 0.5 Gy 的剂量（即 0.063 和 0.125 Gy）在任何时间点都不会显着增加 PSC 的频率。在镜片中，我们观察到性别和衰老的明显影响，但没有观察到辐射或基因型的影响。而来自同一只小鼠的血浆的代谢组学分析仅显示性别效应。

结论

本文证明了辐射引起的 PSC 发病率显着增加，使用 Scheimpflug 成像作为唯一的诊断工具无法识别出这种情况。