individual
What campus are you from?
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Graeme Grainger, Junior
Lead Presenter's Name
Graeme Grainger
Faculty Mentor Name
Amber Paul
Abstract
In space flight, medication can be a large expense to take into space. Not only the weight but the conditions may cause some medication to expire on a long-term mission. This issue is compounded by how our immune systems decline in long term space exposure. It is important to understand in what ways the immune system is affected and why it’s happening. This study explores how space flight and gamma radiation cause inflammation and how neutrophil maturity and metabolic profile play a role in it. Space flight was simulated on 24-week-old mice, both male and female, in isolated, paired and group settings. In these conditions, the mice were hindlimb unloaded and were exposed to social isolation, 5-ion simulated galactic cosmic radiation (GCRsim, 15 cGy). ). Two-weeks post-radiation exposure, T cells were isolated and stimulated with cell stimulation cocktail (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and ionomycin) for 16-24 hours and analyzed via flow cytometry (FCM) to assess polarizing T cell phenotypes relative to the controls. Ongoing analysis aims to find a correlation with increased hematocrit levels and white blood cell maturity and metabolic rate to find a cause to inflammation.
Did this research project receive funding support from the Office of Undergraduate Research.
No
Investigating T-cell responses in simulated space flight
In space flight, medication can be a large expense to take into space. Not only the weight but the conditions may cause some medication to expire on a long-term mission. This issue is compounded by how our immune systems decline in long term space exposure. It is important to understand in what ways the immune system is affected and why it’s happening. This study explores how space flight and gamma radiation cause inflammation and how neutrophil maturity and metabolic profile play a role in it. Space flight was simulated on 24-week-old mice, both male and female, in isolated, paired and group settings. In these conditions, the mice were hindlimb unloaded and were exposed to social isolation, 5-ion simulated galactic cosmic radiation (GCRsim, 15 cGy). ). Two-weeks post-radiation exposure, T cells were isolated and stimulated with cell stimulation cocktail (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and ionomycin) for 16-24 hours and analyzed via flow cytometry (FCM) to assess polarizing T cell phenotypes relative to the controls. Ongoing analysis aims to find a correlation with increased hematocrit levels and white blood cell maturity and metabolic rate to find a cause to inflammation.