Abstract
Since Balb/c mice are sensitive to acute hematopoietic syndrome and C57BL/6 to late fibrovascular toxicity, we measured the effect of total body irradiation (TBI) on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number in these two strains. Six months after TBI, we extracted total genomic DNA, including nuclear DNA (nDNA) and mtDNA, from various tissues. The findings included: (1) TBI had no significant effect on body weight for Balb/c or C57BL/6 when compared to aged controls. (2) For different organs in control mice, the ratio of mtDNA to nDNA ranged from 0.33 to 11.53 in Balb/c and 0.34 to 13.28 in C57BL/6. (3) Ratios of mtDNA to nDNA were generally similar to or higher in C57BL/6 compared to Balb/c. (4) In C57BL/6, TBI induced an increase in mitochondrial copy number only in the brain (p < 0.05). (5) In Balb/c, radiation induced a dose-dependent increase of mtDNA in the liver (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01) and a decrease in skeletal/muscle tissue (p < 0.01). Our findings indicate that radiation influences mtDNA copy number differently in various tissues. This may explain differences in late radiation toxicity to those organs and differences in radiation tolerance between murine strains.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Okunieff P, Swarts S, Keng P et al (2008) Antioxidants reduce consequences of radiation exposure. Adv Exp Med Biol 614:165–178
Bergsneider M, Hovda DA, McArthur DL et al (2001) Metabolic recovery following human traumatic brain injury based on FDG-PET: time course and relationship to neurological disability. J Head Trauma Rehabil 16(2):135–148
Weissman L, Souza-Pinto NC, Stevnsner T et al (2007) DNA repair, mitochondria, and neurodegeneration. Neuroscience 145:1318–1329
Malakhova L, Bezlepkin VG, Antipova V et al (2005) The increase in mitochondrial DNA copy number in the tissues of gamma-irradiated mice. Cell Mol Biol Lett 10(4):721–732
Zhang H, Zhang SB, Sun W et al (2009) B1 Sequence-based real-time quantitative PCR: a sensitive method for direct measurement of mouse plasma DNA levels after gamma irradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 74(5):1592–1599
Paulino AC, Simon JH, Zhen W et al (2000) Long-term effects in children treated with radiotherapy for head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 48(5):1489–1495
Zhang H, Maguire D, Swarts S et al (2009) Replication of murine mitochondrial DNA following irradiation. Adv Exp Med Biol 645:43–48
Yu Y, Okayasu R, Weil MM et al (2001) Elevated breast cancer risk in irradiated BALB/c mice associates with unique functional polymorphism of the PRKDC (DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit) gene. Cancer Res 61:1820–1824
Ponnaiya B, Cornforth MN, Ullrich RL (1997) Radiation-induced chromosomal instability in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice: the difference is as clear as black and white. Radiat Res 147:121–125
Wang Y, Liu L, Pazhanisamy SK et al (2010) Total body irradiation causes residual bone marrow injury by induction of persistent oxidative stress in murine hematopoietic stem cells. Free Radic Biol Med 48(2):348–356
Epperly MW, Dixon T, Wang H et al (2008) Modulation of radiation-induced life shortening by systemic intravenous MnSOD-plasmid liposome gene therapy. Radiat Res 170(4):437–443
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this paper
Cite this paper
Zhang, S.B. et al. (2012). Delayed Effects of Radiation on Mitochondrial DNA in Radiation-Sensitive Organs. In: Wolf, M., et al. Oxygen Transport to Tissue XXXIII. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 737. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1566-4_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1566-4_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-1565-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-1566-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)