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Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging?

The increasing duration of space missions involves a progressively higher exposure of astronauts to cosmic rays, whose most hazardous component is made up of High-Atomic number and High-Energy (HZE) ions. HZE ions interact along their tracks with biological molecules inducing changes on living mater...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Giovanetti, Anna, Tortolici, Flavia, Rufini, Stefano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434975/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32903447
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00955
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author Giovanetti, Anna
Tortolici, Flavia
Rufini, Stefano
author_facet Giovanetti, Anna
Tortolici, Flavia
Rufini, Stefano
author_sort Giovanetti, Anna
collection PubMed
description The increasing duration of space missions involves a progressively higher exposure of astronauts to cosmic rays, whose most hazardous component is made up of High-Atomic number and High-Energy (HZE) ions. HZE ions interact along their tracks with biological molecules inducing changes on living material qualitatively different from that observed after irradiation for therapeutic purposes or following nuclear accidents. HZE ions trigger in cells different responses initialized by DNA damage and mitochondria dysregulation, which cause a prolonged state of sterile inflammation in the tissues. These cellular phenomena may explain why spending time in space was found to cause the onset of a series of diseases normally related to aging. These changes that mimic aging but take place more quickly make space flights also an opportunity to study the mechanisms underlying aging. In this short review, we describe the biological mechanisms underlying cell senescence and aging; the peculiar characteristics of HZE ions, their interaction with living matter and the effects on the organism; the key role of mitochondria in HZE ion-induced health effects and aging-related phenomena.
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spelling pubmed-74349752020-09-03 Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging? Giovanetti, Anna Tortolici, Flavia Rufini, Stefano Front Physiol Physiology The increasing duration of space missions involves a progressively higher exposure of astronauts to cosmic rays, whose most hazardous component is made up of High-Atomic number and High-Energy (HZE) ions. HZE ions interact along their tracks with biological molecules inducing changes on living material qualitatively different from that observed after irradiation for therapeutic purposes or following nuclear accidents. HZE ions trigger in cells different responses initialized by DNA damage and mitochondria dysregulation, which cause a prolonged state of sterile inflammation in the tissues. These cellular phenomena may explain why spending time in space was found to cause the onset of a series of diseases normally related to aging. These changes that mimic aging but take place more quickly make space flights also an opportunity to study the mechanisms underlying aging. In this short review, we describe the biological mechanisms underlying cell senescence and aging; the peculiar characteristics of HZE ions, their interaction with living matter and the effects on the organism; the key role of mitochondria in HZE ion-induced health effects and aging-related phenomena. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-08-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7434975/ /pubmed/32903447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00955 Text en Copyright © 2020 Giovanetti, Tortolici and Rufini. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Physiology
Giovanetti, Anna
Tortolici, Flavia
Rufini, Stefano
Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging?
title Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging?
title_full Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging?
title_fullStr Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging?
title_full_unstemmed Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging?
title_short Why Do the Cosmic Rays Induce Aging?
title_sort why do the cosmic rays induce aging?
topic Physiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434975/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32903447
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00955
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