Russian scientists have received unusual conclusions from the study of the influence of galactic cosmic rays on the psycho-emotional state and mental abilities. It turned out that cosmic radiation can have a positive effect on the functions of the central nervous system.
Until now, mankind has not been able to create effective protection against ionizing radiation, and therefore cosmic radiation, from which the Earth is kept by the dense atmosphere and magnetosphere, is one of the main problems for long-term space travel. But according to the results of laboratory tests on rats, scientists from Russia were able to understand the mechanism of the positive effect of space radiation on the central nervous system.
The rodents were exposed to a combined effect of heavy charged particles and gamma rays, equivalent in composition and doses to an 860-day interplanetary mission (while a flight to Mars would take 180 days one way), and then rats from the experimental and control groups were compared. Each of the groups was divided into subgroups of young and mature individuals.
It turned out that anxiety grows in rodents immediately after exposure, but it gradually disappears. But the individuals exposed to radiation showed themselves better in tests for orientation in space. The researchers attributed this to the difference in the concentration of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain - these substances serve as neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (glutamate - excites, GABA - inhibits).
“The most interesting is the disclosure of the mechanisms of the positive effects of ionizing radiation on the functions of the central nervous system, because they can be used for new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases, in particular, the drug-resistant form of clinical depression. The team is working in this direction and soon there will be presented data on the effects of irradiation with heavy charged particles on the course of the neurodegenerative process, as, for example, in Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,”noted the lead author of the study, senior researcher at the laboratory of psychopharmacology at the N. I. VP Serbsky "of the Ministry of Health of Russia Victor Kokhan. - A decrease in the level of GABA causes the so-called disinhibition of the central nervous system, which is accompanied by an increase in motor activity,situational anxiety and improved learning performance in a number of cognitive tests, explains Viktor Kokhan. - We hypothesize that an increase in the level of the enzyme GABA aminotransferase is responsible for this effect. At the same time, a change in the glutamate / GABA balance is a pathophysiological link in a number of neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases"
Scientists have found that over time, the balance of glutamate / GABA in irradiated animals is restored by reducing the level of glutamate, and not by normalizing the level of GABA.
“Thus, on the one hand, we did not reveal serious disturbances in the functioning of the glutamatergic and GABA-ergic systems, but on the other hand, ionizing radiation still causes deep remodeling of the nervous tissue. It so happened that functionally it has a positive effect on the central nervous system,”said Viktor Kokhan.
Effects and hypothetical mechanisms of their occurrence a group of researchers, which included employees of the FSBI NMITsPN im. VP Serbsky of the Ministry of Health of Russia, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna) and Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov, described in a scientific work that was published in the authoritative journal Neuroscience.
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