Problems of Radiation Medicine and Radiobiology

І. A. Nikitina, A. I. Gritsuk

Gomel State Medical University, Lange str., 5, Gomel, Belarus, 246000

Tissue breathing and topology of rats thymocytes surface under acute total γ-irradiation

Objective. Assessment of the effect of single total γ?irradiation to the parameters of mitochondrial oxidation and the topology of the thymocyte surface.
Materials and methods. The study was performed in sexually mature white outbreeding male rats divided into three groups: two experimental and one control. The states of energy metabolism were determined by the rate of oxygen consumption by the thymus tissues on endogenous substrates at the presence of 2,4-dinitrophenol, uncoupler of a tissue breathing (TB) and oxidative phosphorylation (OP) after a single total γ?irradiation at a dose of 1.0 Gy at 3, 10, 40 and 60 days. The topology of thymus cells was assessed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Results. On the 3rd and 10th days after total gamma irradiation at a dose of 1.0 Gy, a significant decrease in respiratory activity was determined in thymus tissues on endogenous substrates. Simultaneously, on the 3rd day, pronounced changes in the morphological parameters of thymocytes (height, volume, area of contact with the substrate) and the topology of their surface were also observed. On the 10th day after irradiation, most of the morphological parameters of thymocytes, except for their volume, were characterized by restoration to normal. In the long-term (on the 30th and 60th days after exposure), a gradual but not complete recovery of the respiratory activity of thymocytes was observed, accompanied by an increase in the degree of dissociation of TD and OP.
Conclusions. The obtained data reflect and refine mechanisms of post-radiation repair of lymphopoiesis, showing the presence of conjugated changes in the parameters of aerobic energy metabolism of thymocytes, morphology and topology of their surface. The synchronism of changes in the parameters under study is a reflection of the state of the cytoskeleton, the functional activity of which largely depends on the level and efficiency of mitochondrial oxidation.
Key words: γ?irradiation, rats, thymocytes, mitochondrial oxidation, atomic force microscopy, surface topology.

Problems of radiation medicine and radiobiology. 2016;21:216–223.