Corrigendum: Immunological changes during space travel: A ground-based evaluation of the impact of neutron dose rate on plasma cytokine levels in human whole blood cultures
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Date
2021Author
Fisher, Randall
Baselet, Bjorn
Rahiman, Farzana
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A better understanding of the combined impact of different space stressors on
human health is urgently warranted, considering the upcoming long-duration missions
beyond lower Earth orbit. Therefore, a growing number of particle accelerator facilities
implement ground-based set-ups to study the effect of simulated space radiation
with simulated psychological or physical stressors. The immune system is highly
sensitive to these types of stressors and limited information is currently available on
the impact of the complex space radiation environment on the astronauts’ immune
function. This pilot study presents a first step in the implementation of a ground-based
set-up with neutron irradiation, which is considered to be an important secondary
component in space radiation fields. The effect of dose rate on immune alterations
was studied using the in vitro cytokine release assay. Whole blood samples (n = 8)
were exposed to 0.125 or 1 Gy of neutron irradiation (fluence-weighted average
energy: 29.8 MeV) at a lower dose rate (LDR) of 0.015 Gy/min and a higher
dose rate (HDR) of 0.400 Gy/min. Immediately post-irradiation, blood samples were
stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), heat-killed Listeria monocytogenes (HKLM)
or lectin pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and incubated for 24 h.